Final Fantasy XIII-2: My Version
by Kataang9
Summary: Read the Introduction chapter
1. Introduction

I have played Lightning Returns and I think that game is seriously twisted. So I've decided to create my own version of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Frankly, I'm starting to wish I could actually make it into a game, if only it was possible. However, I am gonna try to describe some parts in what it'll be like in a game, just so you guys could visualize it.

What happens in this story it takes place a year after Cocoon's fall, when Lightning and the gang are being threatened by Caius. Noel helps them out on their journey to find out what Caius is up to. I have also done a few changes just to make it imagine how what this whole thing would be like if it were actually a game. Some pieces of the story, such as places and abilities and characters and such, may seem like a mix of Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns, but keep in mind this is a completely different story of the two. Even that monster Bhunivelze isn't going to be the God himself. No, no, no. In fact, he's one of the reasons I think Lightning Returns is messed up (**DO NOT** say anything about Bhunivelze that defends him in his role in LR or any of the original FFXIII's, cause I do not want to hear it!)

Here are some changes. Few you might wanna see cause they'll be mentioned in the story (In battles that is) others you don't have too, unless you want to imagine how FFXIII-2 would be like as a game. Those you should know, if this was a game, Yeul would be some bonus character you unlock when you beat the game. There would also be some zone known as "Ragnarok's Lair" which is also something that appears when you beat the game, it's like the world's most toughest, longest dungeon to face. Let me put it to you this way: The place will still be tough and challenging even when you have all the characters in full Crystarium, ultimate weapons - Maximum level and powerful accessories - Maximum level.

**Arena Coliseum:**

There's going to be this arena known as "Dreadzone" where you fight enemies (Develops based on your level. The stronger Lightning and the others become stronger, so do the matches) where you face them in a number of matches in a row, much like the Coliseum in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. In this tournament, you would not only face monsters and enemies of FFXIII, but also enemies throughout any of the previous Final Fantasies.

There would also be some selections that would make things interesting or challenging:

Heroic: Enemies are twice as strong then normal.

Double Trouble: Face the tournament matches in a party of two people. Enemies will also be 1.5x as strong then normal.

Time Limit: Face the tournament on normal mode but have to beat it before the timer runs out. Amount of time is based on number of matches.

**New Role - Shaman:**

There's going to be another role for the former l'Cie gang. Known as "Shaman". (It's the best name I could think of. Any of you guess have any better role ideas, I'd loved to hear it.) The role is where it's just like Ravager, attacking with elemental damage while boosting the stagger chain. I have decided that the attacks in Ravager: Flamestrike, Froststrike, Galestrike, Sparkstrike and Aquastrike should be in their own role, since I think those in the physical fighting ranks, including those who don't have the Ravager role as a Primary like Fang, should have a role to help boost the stagger chain. Yes, I'm aware of the Saboteur role, but it's not enough. Even when the enemies are already sabotaged.

**New Role Sets:**

Lightning - Commando, Ravager, Shaman, Medic  
Snow - Commando, Ravager, Shaman, Sentinel  
Sazh - Commando, Ravager, Shaman, Synergist  
Vanille - Ravager, Shaman, Medic, Saboteur  
Serah - Commando, Ravager, Medic, Shaman  
Hope - Ravager, Medic, Synergist, Commando  
Fang - Commando, Shaman, Sentinel, Saboteur  
Me - Commando, Saboteur, Synergist, Shaman  
Noel - Commando, Shaman, Sentinel, Synergist  
Yeul - Ravager, Synergist, Medic, Saboteur

**New Abilities:**

Commando - Shoot: Shoot at the target with a bow/gun weapon.  
Command - Rend (Passive): Deals damage overtime based on the damage applied to the enemy, only affected on targets affected by deprotect  
Command - Bloodthirsty (Passive): Restores some health when attacking targets affected by Rend  
Ravager - Element: Deals a combine attack of fire, water, ice, lightning and wind  
Ravager - Elementga: Same as Element only as Area of Effect  
Ravager - Banish: Deals holy damage  
Ravager - Banishra: Deals holy damage. Greater on staggered targets  
Ravager - Banishga: Deals holy damage in a wide radius  
Shaman - Galestrike: Attacks the enemy with a wind-based strike  
Shaman - Elemental (Passive): Increases the damage of an attack that matches with an element buff (Such as Flamestrike deals more damage when applied with Enfire).  
Shaman - Flame/Frost/Aqua/Aero/Electric Blitz: Does Blitz in an elemental attack  
Sentinel - Heavy Guard: Blocks a large amount of damage for a short time  
Medic - Regen: Restores the target's health overtime. Uneffected to those with Poison  
Medic - Great Gospel: (Yeul only. Her special ability) Full restores the parties health and also grants Protect, Shell and Veil  
Synergist - Faithga/Braveriga/Protectga/Shellga/Hastega: What they apply in the first stages, only affecting the entire party  
Synergist - Enaero: Allows ones attacks in Commando, Saboteur and Sentinel to do wind-based attacks.  
Synergist - Enpoison: Allows ones attacks in Commando, Saboteur and Sentinel to do poison-based attacks. Chance of applying poison on the target.

**Crystarium:**

For the Crystarium, I figured it should work the way it is in the original FFXIII. However, I am changing the amount of stat increases in the secondary ones, like Lightning's Synergist, Sabotuer and Sentinel. Personally I don't really get why they have to be so low. Makes it seem pretty stupid since they cause like thousands of Crystarium Points. Plus, the characters are going to unlock their Eidolons through the Crystarium just like Accessories and an ATB boost. I figured it's best that way since everyone already earned their eidolons.

**Stats:**

**Lightning**

Health: 300 (Minimum) 42500 (Maximum)  
Strength: Average-High  
Magic: Average

**Snow**

Health: 500 (Minimum) 50000 (Maximum)  
Strength: Average-High  
Magic: Average-Low

**Vanille**

Health: 400 (Minimum) 45070 (Maximum)  
Strength: Average  
Magic: High

**Hope**

Health: 240 (Minimum) 41000 (Maximum)  
Strength: Low  
Magic: Very High

**Sazh**

Health: 310 (Minimum) 46050 (Maximum)  
Strength: Average  
Magic: Average

**Fang**

Health: 390 (Minimum) 48000 (Maximum)  
Strength: Very High  
Magic: Very Low

**Myself (Patrick)**

Health: 400 (Minimum) 47000 (Maximum)  
Strength: High  
Magic: Average

**Serah**

Health: 350 (Minimum) 45000 (Maximum)  
Strength: Average  
Magic: Average

**Noel**

Health: 400 (Minimum) 49500 (Maximum)  
Strength: Average-High  
Magic: Low

**Yeul**

Health: 200 (Minimum) 32500 (Maximum)  
Strength: Extremely Low  
Magic: Extremely High


	2. Prologue

Cocoon

A planet. a floating shall that rests in the skies of Gran Pulse.

Cocoon was once our home planet, until the day when Vanille and Fang awaken from their crystal stasis. The first thirteen days when they awaken have changed everything. Serah had become a l'Cie, and because of her, we all did too.

During our time as l'Cie, we had been through some rough times and many changes. Despair. Hope. Fear. Bravery. Doubt. Faith. Anger. In the end, we've bonded well close, and became a family.

Our focus was one thing that was hard to accept: Become Ragnoark. Destroy Orphan and tore Cocoon right out of the sky. The fal'Cie, Barthandelus, lead us to our fate. In the end, we defeated Barthandelus and destroyed Orphan. Cocoon fall from the sky, but during the fall, we all became Ragnoark and saved Cocoon from its own destruction.

We were all put in crystal stasis, and we all woke up together shortly afterwards. Cocoon was saved. We were free from our l'Cie curse. And the best part of all, my best friend/Snow's fiancé/Lightning's sister: Serah Farron, returned to us, awaken from her crystal slumber. Oh yeah, and Sazh was reunited with his son Dajh as well.

After Cocoon's fall, we've decided to build a new home, a new life and a brand new world on Gran Pulse. Our actions of bringing down Cocoon have awaken everyone from their nightmares. They all thought Gran Pulse was hell, but the moment they get a sighting of this beautiful wildlife, they learned that they had it all wrong. All though that still doesn't mean they're afraid off it, for it's crawling with wildlife monsters.

We spent the rest of the day resting, since we need to restore our energy for big plans we have tomorrow. Serah and Hope got to meet each other personally, some alone time together I might add. They talked most of the day. Serah does tell Hope that she feels bad for what happened to his mother. Even though it wasn't her fault, she can't help but feel like she's part of it, since I, her best friend, couldn't keep my promise to Hope I'd keep her save and she died in the hands of Snow, her boyfriend/fiancé. In the end, Serah and Hope became close friends. They have really bonded, which makes me, Lightning and Snow happy.

On the next day, we've begun traveling around Gran Pulse finding a nice place to start building homes. PSICOM, NORA and Guardian Corps decided to work together to help out the citizens build a new home on Gran Pulse. Some of PSICOM troops are still bad. They still hated Pulse and accused all of us as traitors. The evil PSICOM left and follow their own path. The Guardian Corps and the good PSICOM, newly known as "The Academy", decided to work together as a brand new Sanctum. They now call themselves "ORPHAN", which stands for: Organized Regiment Preventing Harm Against Natives. And Cid Raines became Primarch of the Sanctum.

They do their duties to protect us from the wildlife. We former l'Cie gangs even help out with fighting off the wildlife. Even though we're no longer l'Cies, we all still have our powers and eidolons.

We have found a tunnel that leads us to a decent cove, with a lovely ocean shore. It reminded us about the city Bodhum, so we've decided to make our home right here. Hope and Lightning told us about Hope's wish back in Nautlius, that we would all be together as a family when our journey was over. Vanille and Serah thought it was really sweet, Snow and Sazh thinks it was nice and Fang just smiles at Hope and gives him a pat on the head. Lightning might find it a bit irritating, having to live with Snow, but she figured she'll grow into it. After all, she did accept his hand in marriage with Serah.

We have started construction on our home, even all the other citizens helped out. Literally all the others, as in there was not a single other citizen, other then ORPHAN, doing anything else. The citizens wanted to repay us for helping them open their eyes to the truth, and also apologize for treating us all like monsters and fearing us when we were l'Cie.

By the end of the day, we have created our home, a large once I should say. After all: Big family. Big home. It was a two story house, big and wide. It has a large living room, a big kitchen, a lovely dinning room, a large back and front yard, a stables for Snowflake, five bedrooms, three of them with showers, nine bedrooms, with two leftover as guest rooms, and a gate.

By the end of the day, everyone was tired and we turned in. As a thankful gesture, we allowed the citizens to sleep in the mansion so they wouldn't have to stay out in the cold dark night. However, we couldn't fit everyone, just a few hundred. But still, every little bit helps.

On the second day, Me, Lightning, Serah, Snow, Sazh and Hope decided to return to Cocoon to pick up our household items. Fang and Vanille stays behind to help out the Cocoon citizens. Even Fang formed a group of hunters to hunt for food. They even took out a large Adamantortoise or two to supply food for the first month, so we don't have to waste our time by sending a few citizens for food. More hands means faster work done.

When we arrived at Cocoon, we weren't pleased at how it looks. Many cities, completely or nearly destroyed in crystal. Our houses, either fully or nearly, were still standing, so our household objects were still save. While we were in Palumpolum, we learned that Hopes father, Bartholomew, died in the hands of PSICOM. It was a tragic moment, especially since Hope is now an orphan. We all felt bad for the kid, but Hope says that it's okay. He thinks it's probably for the best since he knows that he and his dad wouldn't get along now that Nora is gone. She is the glue that holds them together.

Lightning decided to take Hope in under her wing. She adopted the young kid and became her guardian. Since then, Hope and Lightning have been closer then ever. Whenever one of them was in trouble, like if Lightning was injured, Hope was sad and scared, they took care of each other. Serah's really happy to have Hope in the Farron family, she always did wanted a little brother. Her favorite moment was when she found Lightning and Hope laying together in bed, when Hope wraps his arms around Lightning and called her 'mom' in his sleep. She thought it was really sweet and cute.

At sunset, we returned to Gran Pulse and stored our stuff in the house. However, since our house was filled with hundreds of people, strangers I might add, we had to keep our stuff in storage in boxes until our business is done.

On the very next day, we have begun building houses for all the other citizens. One-by-one, hour-by-hour, day-by-day. Houses are made, and then our buildings such as a school, hospital, pier houses, restaurants and a new NORA cafe.

A few days later, the children starts to become very sick and ill, including young Dajh. All of them caught the very same sickness that Hope had during our first few days on Gran Pulse. We call this sickly disease pneumonia. Many of the citizens starts to worry about their younglings. Vanille and Serah took some time off from construction to help out the sick. Sazh also offered some help since Dajh is involved. By the end of the week, the children became very well again even Dajh. But not all made it through. Very few of the children didn't make it. Wasn't much, just five or six children, which is like 1/10000 to us.

By the end of the second week, our new city was made. We called it New Bodhum. It was the largest city, by that, it was larger then the original Bodhum.

For the finishing touch of our new city, we have created a large memorial fountain in the heart of the city, which is right out in front of the stairs of the plateau of our mansion. It's basically a large fountain with three layers, including the ground, and there are statues at the every edge of the bottom layer, made entirely of crystal, of me, Lightning, Sazh, Serah, Snow, Hope, Vanille and Fang. The statues are about life sized.

On the podiums the statues stand on, are our crystariums: Lightning's pink rose, Snow's blue heart, Serah's crystal tear, Sazh's orange-yellow feather, Fangs orange-purple check, Hope's white light orb, Vanilles orange-green heart and my black arrow.

Underneath those crystarium's are our names. For Lightning, she decided to use her real name: "Claire 'Lightning' Farron". She still goes by the name Lightning, but she had to get use to people calling her Claire since they think it's her first name, even though it is, but she goes with Lightning as her first name. Some of the people figured she goes by Lightning then there are single quotes in that work on the statue.

And on the top is a large monument statue of the crystal pillar of the crystalized Cocoon. Also made entirely of crystal. The statue is like three times as big and large as us. In the fountain in between the Lightning and Snow statue is a plaque:

'The heroes of Cocoon. Those who save the world from destruction. From the start, they were known as Pulse l'Cie who seemed to destroy Cocoon, but in the end, they saved it and freed us all from the fal'Cie nightmare. A lot of lives have died and a lot of dreams have shattered during the war, all for the l'Cie heroes to save the world. May the souls of the fallen rest in peace.'

Everyone is really attached to the fountain. A lot of people come here and visit it. Most of the people who lost their love ones during the war usually come here to talk to them in prayers, even me and Hope come here to talk to our parents.

When New Bodhum was done, all the other homeless citizens moved on, building new homes and cities throughout the lands. At the end of the first month, we all moved on and life on through out our new world.

Lightning returned to her duties in the ORPHAN Guardian Corps. During her return, she was promoted General since they are short handed, thanks to us for killing off their men back on Cocoon. Oh the irony. Serah became worried for Lightning, but she knows that she can take care of herself, even since she has Odin on her side.

Snow still worked with his NORA group. During their time, they traveled around Pulse helping out the citizens build their homes. When the construction starts to settle down, as in they don't need every help they can get like they did in the first place, they returned to New Bodhum and ran the cafe shop.

Hope started working with the Academy scientists of ORPHAN. He's a really smart kid, even Lightning's impressed. Hope even created an advanced technology, a powerful force fields to protect the city from wildlife's. The shield is like a bubble, only humans and chocobos can cross through it, while anything else that's an animal or beast, the shield rebels.

Vanille decided to become a nurse, since she enjoyed her job of taking care of the sickly children from the first week of Pulse. She does a very good job of healing the sick and injured. She even healed the scars from the cuts I gave myself. The results were pretty good, there's only a few left, but she believes it'll fade over time.

Serah decided to become a school teacher. She gives the kids a great education, even Dajh was in her classes. The kids both love her and are afraid of her. Apparently Serah becomes mean and scary when the kids disobeyed her. They even call her "Meanie Ms. Farron" I was really surprised, I always thought of Serah as an angel, I've never expect her to have a bad side. No doubt about it: She and Lightning are sisters all right. On her off time, me and Lightning teaches Serah how to fight. Lightning taught her how to wield a sword while I teach her how to shoot a bow.

Sazh runs a weapons shop for the soldiers and hunters. On his off time, he's also a pilot who travels everyone around the world to far away places, or to the crystalized Cocoon. Sazh even created a new weapon for Serah, a Bowsword. Where it's like Lightning's Gunblade, but it's a two-handed sword that turns into a bow. I guess all those lessons me and Lightning were giving Serah really paid off, huh?

Fang leads a group of hunters. Her job is to hunt the wildlife out in Pulse for food and water. Fang does a good job at training her companions. Sure, she can be a little harsh, but the wildlife is for the strong and the weak gets ruled out. If you want to get strong, you gotta get tough. Which means Fang has to give them some tough love.

As for me, I have decided to give up my Mercenary Job, since money didn't matter from the start. It's all about survival. I spent my time helping out other citizens. I even joined Snow and team NORA on the construction travels. I started to bond with NORA, and a little bit from Snow as well. We weren't close...well, I wasn't close with him. I still despise him, just not as much as I use to. You could say I'm just giving him the cold shoulder.

When I got back to New Bodhum, Lightning offered be a job in ORPHAN. She was actually impressed with my skills and strategy during our time as l'Cie. I was promoted to Sergeant like she was back then. We became excellent partners, we always had each others back.

Our journey was over, but a new one is just beginning.


	3. PSICOM Vestige

A/N: The beginning of Final Fantasy XIII-2. It has been a whole year since Cocoon's fall. A lot has happened since then. Looks like we have a lot of catching up to do. Let's start with Lightning and I as we both go on a mission to the PSICOM Vestige.

Chapter 1: PSICOM Vestige

* * *

One year has passed since Orphan's defeat and Cocoon fell from the sky. In the middle of the large grass-field is Lightning, sitting on the edge of a hundred foot cliff. Lightning's new outfit is a mix of her Guardian Corps uniform and her Guardian of Valhalla armor:

A black sleeveless, of both legs and arms, suit with the silver breastplate. Metal silver boots that go up to her knees. Roman brown skirt that only goes from thigh to back to thigh, with gold patterns on the bottom of each line. Silver shoulders with the red highlight lines. Fingerless blues gloves with the long black sleeve that goes up her upper arms (She'll wear that on both of her arms instead of just the one). Her leather pouch wrapped around her upper left leg. Half a scarlet cape and the holster for her Gunblade, bottom half of it covered by the cape, is hanging from her back instead of her behind.

Lightning gazes at the large crystalized pillar that holds Cocoon in place, which is over a hundred miles from her location, with the wind blow briskly through her hair. She hasn't changed much. She's now 22 with her hair slightly a little longer with a single hot pink stroke in the front down at her lazy ponytail (That's what I think her hair is like).

Lately, Lightning's been spending most of her time viewing the pillar. Both the actual pillar and the memorial fountain over in New Bodhum. No one knows why she is, everytime someone asked, she just shuts them out. Lightning inhales deeply through her nose then exhales from her mouth.

The sound of a train whistle and low engine rumbling noise catches her attention. "Hmm?" Lightning looks down at the far ground level beneath her. She pays her attention to the train tracks in the middle of the field. She sees a train is arriving. The train as a symbol on the side of the box cars: A large X with small x's form on the lines of the big X, and arrows on the all of the remaining lines of the lesser x's, and finally, and eye in the center of that big X's. The symbol of PSICOM. "There you are..."

Lightning gets on her feet. She makes a couple of steps back, then runs and jumps off the cliff. Lightning dives head first, eyes locked onto the train. She's halfway down from impact, but the train is far from her landing spot. Lightning falls flat, arms and legs spread out, slowing her fall.

The soldier girl focuses hard on her target. The train arrives at the landing spot, and Lightning dives head on once again. She lands on her hands and legs at the very last box car. She rests for a moment to recover her strength, then stands up.

The strong force of wind blows against her, but she makes her stand to resist. Just then, PSICOM troopers and an officer climbs out of the train and onto the roof, aiming their guns at Lightning. "It's General Farron of ORPHAN! Kill her!" The officer orders.

The troopers starts charing and the soldiers starts charging at her. Lightning takes out her weapon, the Gunblade: Overture. Lightning deflects the bullets with her weapon, and then dodges and avoids the soldiers when they come in contact with her. Lightning mostly avoids and rarely strikes back. She was able to knock one soldier down.

One other soldier comes close to her. The moment she realize, the soldier punches her right in the head, and she gets knocked back. Lightning falls and crashes onto the tracks, her body rolling and sliding on the steel and dirt grounds of the tracks. When she stops, she pulls her upper body up and looks ahead, seeing the train getting away.

Frustrated, Lightning slams her fist on the ground. "Damn it!" Lightning stands up, just looking at the distance ahead. She puts her left hand on her hip, tilting to her left as she thinks of a plan. "Well...now what?" She whispers to herself.

Just then, the white Chocobo, Snowflake, rushes in and stops next to Lightning. She was a little startled. She turned to see it's just Snowflake and I. My outfit is a black trench-coat, that goes down to my upper legs, with dark purple lining going down the sleeves and a white outlined Sergeant rank symbol on the left upper sleeve. Dark purple t-shirt underneath the trench coat, black pants, a black feather shoulder-pad on my left shoulder, my two pouches, hidden beneath the trench coat, wrapped and tied to my belt, and brownish hunting boots. Black fingerless gloves. Black strips, two coming over the shoulders and two coming from underneath the shoulders, forming an X on the chest, to hold on to the quiver. Complete with a black fedora with the golden Mockingjay pin on it and my mothers diamond heart necklace.

"I spotted the PSICOM train!" I say. Lightning gives a frustrated look, spreading her arms out and twitches at me. She obviously knows about the train. "Quick! Get on!" Lightning hops on Snowflakes back behind me, then I give a whip on the reins. "Hyah Snowflake!"

Snowflake kwehs and runs down the track with all of her agility. Me and Lightning leans head on with Snowflake to help produce speed. We begin to catch up to the train. PSICOM troopers sees us chasing after them.

"Farron's back! And she's with the Shadow Hunter!" The trooper warns.

The PSICOM office makes his way to the head of the train. When he does, he moves his head in view at the top of the door. "Hey!" The engineer turns to see the officer. "More speed! Trouble is tailing us!"

The engineer nods. He does his work around the controls, then shovels more coal. Soon enough, the train is picking up speed, even more then Snowflake can.

"They're getting away!" Lightning shouts.

"Oh no they're not! Haste!" I apply Haste onto Snowflake. The chocobo stops for a brief moment as the high-speed energy courses through her, then she takes off in a sonicboom.

We catch up to the train. The troopers at the end aren't too happy. "They're coming!"

"Just shoot, you bonehead!" The two troopers take out their guns and starts shooting at Snowflake. Snowflake moves side to side, avoiding the bullets. I take out my bladebow: Hunter's Mark, a black thick bow with sharp metal blades attached to limbs, and metal in the shape of the Pulse l'Cie brand right over the handle. I load it with an arrow and shoots at the troopers. One of them gets killed from the shoot, but gets replaced with two more. We're about a foot from behind the train. Lightning stands on the chocobos back, then jumps back on, knocking out the troopers in her way.

More troopers up ahead starts shooting at Lightning. The train enters a tunnel. I drive Snowflake into running up on the wall (Yes, the Haste makes her that fast). As we run up the wall, I lock my legs on the chocobos body to hang on, and I start shooting at the troopers shooting at Lightning.

Lightning starts running down the box cars. The soldiers are worried. "Commander! What now?"

"Soldiers! Take out the general!" The officer orders. Some of the soldiers gets shot by my arrows. The officer looks by the wall, seeing Snowflake running on it with me shooting at them. "Troopers! Take out that Shadow Hunter!"

The troopers move to the side of the train roof and starts shooting at me and Snowflake. I cast a protection spell on us, blocking the bullets.

Lightning charges her way through the roof of the train, cutting down any of the soldiers that got in her way. Whike the troopers are reloading, I stop channeling the Protect and start shooting at the troopers. I knock out half of them, Lightning takes care of the rest when she reaches them.

It's now just the officer. He holds his lance out, defending himself. Lightning stands in front of the officer, her weapon hold out, the very tip of it just inches from his face.

"You wouldn't dare!" The officer says.

Lightning smirks, and she tosses her weapon above her. The officer keeps his eyes on the blade. Snowflake runs on the ceiling over the tunnel, that's when I let go and fall down. I grab Lightning's weapon mid-fall and I slash the officer, ending his life and his body falls off of the train.

Me and Lightning stands as the train rushes through the tunnels. I return Lightning her weapon. "Piece of cake." I say.

The train rides into an area surrounded by walls, like a giant goldfish bowl. The train stops at the entrance. When it stops, me and Lightning takes a look at the place. All there is in the area is the ruins of the fallen Orphan's Cradle and Edenhall, hundreds of human slaves doing hard labor, and on the top of the wall is a vestige that's just like the one where we all became l'Cie, back on Cocoon.

Lightning looks at the distant vestige and points at it. "There! Our target: The PSICOM vestige."

I look at the vestige. "Looks just like that one back in the Hanging Edge." I say.

It really is. This vestige is the Pulse Vestige back on Cocoon. PSICOM took it from Lake Bresha and used it as some new base or a super weapon. Either way, it's bad news and we have orders to destroy it.

Lightning doesn't bother paying attention to my comment. "Let's roll."

Me and Lightning hops off the train. As soon as we do, we're being attacked by a giant Cybug, Robotic bugs. PSICOM created Cybugs as companions to assist them in battle, such as those Pantheron's or Proto Behemoth's. This one is about fifteen feet tall, in Mantid form. Empress Windleaf.

"Well, looks like things just got interesting." I say. Me and Lightning position ourselves for battle.

[Paradigm Shift - Locked: If this were a game, I figured the Paradigm Shift's would be locked to this. Just for this first chapter at least. Figured it would be best for amateurs, I remember messing up the whole shift system back when I first played FFXIII:

Enhancement - Lightning: Commando/Me: Shaman  
Avatar - Lightning: Ravager/Me: Shaman  
Double Trouble - Lightning: Commando/Me: Commando  
Shadow Blade - Lightning: Shaman/Me: Saboteur  
War &amp; Peace - Lightning: Medic/Me: Commando  
Symbiosis - Lightning: Medic/Me: Synergist]

Lightning charges at the Empress, striking at it. I stand back and shoot with Flamestrike, shooting with burning arrows. Empress Windleaf releases it's razor claws, and slashes at Lightning. Lightning shifts into Ravager and casts Thunder. Gun holes appear in the Empress's body and it starts shooting at us. Lightning shifts into Medic and starts healing herself. I kept shooting Flamestrike at Empress Windleaf, then both me and Lightning shifts into Command. I shoot and she strikes.

Empress Windleaf stumbles back. "Let's go." Lightning says, as we both move on ahead.

Me and Lightning reaches to the end of the side walk, then we started climbing on top of the rubble. Empress Windleaf shakes off the nerves. It turns to see us escaping. Empress Windleaf spreads it wings and flies after us. When we make it to the top, the Cybug gets in our way.

We take our out weapons. "This thing just won't give up, would it?" I ask.

"You tell me." Lightning says.

[In game. Most of the fights are going to have enemies that'll be out of range. Where they can only be hit through ranged attacks and spells.]

I start shift shifting into Synergist, giving me and Lightning Haste. Lightning starts shooting at the Empress Windleaf with her Gunblade. Empress Windleaf screeches with Deafening Roar. The sound dazes me and Lightning, then Empress Windleaf shoots at us through the gun holes on its body, removing the daze but hitting us with twice the damage.

I shift into Commando, start shooting at the Cybug. Lightning shifts into Medic, casting Cure on her then me. Empress Windleaf shoots lasers at me and Lightning. Lightning finishes healing us, then shifts into Ravager and casts Thunder at the Cybug. I shift into Saboteur and start casting Deprotect and Deshall. Emrpess Windleaf fires missiles from behind, the missiles hits us.

I shift into Shaman and strikes the Cybug with Flamestrikes. Me and Lightning goes on with attacking until we have the boss staggering, then we both shift into Commando. Lightning starts of with a Ruin spell then shoots with her Gunblade. I shoot with my bow and arrows. The Empress Windleaf rarely gets to fight back due to staggering. Whenever she does, she only shoots at us.

In the end, Empress Windleaf statics and retreats, flying high in the sky until it was out of sight. Me and Lightning puts away our weapons. "Tch. That thing really bugs me." Lightning says. I chuckled hearing that. Lightning looks at me with disapproval. "Just what is so funny?"

I stop laughing for the moment to answer. "What you said. It's funny." I say. "You said that thing bugs you...and it's a bug. It's a clever play on words." Lightning just squints her eyes at me, telling me that she's not getting it, not seeing it funny or now's not the time. My chuckling dies down. "Err...nevermind." I put my hands on my hips and then take a deep sigh. "So, what's the mission, General?"

Lightning turns, so do I, and we face directly at the PSICOM Vestige. "We get into that vestige and destroy it." Lightning says. "Primarch Raines believes that PSICOM is creating l'Cie's in their army."

I give a close, yet far, look at the vestige. "Hmm...I don't know. I don't really think it makes sense. I'm pretty sure PSICOM would hate l'Cie cause we put the lights out on Cocoon." Lightning turns her head, facing me, but says nothing. I look down at the slaves on the ground below us. "I can't believe this is happening. PSICOM would be evil enough to turn everyone that's against them into slaves."

"It doesn't surprise me, given to the Purge they did back on Cocoon." Lightning says.

The PSICOM vestige surveillances the area, scanning for any signs of trouble. When it spots me and Lightning, a loud alarm goes on, startling me and Lightning. A bright red light shines at the top of the vestige, and unleashes red rays of light. The rays hit the citizens, which pains them greatly. Me and Lightning looks down, surprised. Instantly, the rays of light turns anyone that's been caught in them...into Cie'th.

"What the!" I say, shocked and flinching back. The Cie'th monsters are on their knees and hands, then starts standing up, moaning and roaring. "It turns human's...into Cie'th!? That is really messed up."

Lightning looks up at the vestige. "It seems that PSICOM is creating a weapon to turn people Cie'th." Lightning stands in place, looking up at the vestige without saying a word, then she starts climbing down.

I take notice that Lightning's moving. "He-hey. Wait up." I start climbing down with Lightning. Our journey begins.

Me and Lightning runs down the Forsaken Cradle, we cut down any Cie'th that gets in our way. Lightning cuts them down, or in the Winged Cie'th's case, shoots at them, while I stay behind and shoot with Flamestrike. Few of the Cie'th fights back. Whenever we're weakened, Lightning shifts into Medic and casts Cure on one of us. When the Cie'ths are dead, we continue down our path.

"If this is one of their bases, they must be on budget cuts. This place is a dump." I say.

So far, we've killed about five Winged, eleven Shambling and seven of those creepy disembodied arms. Even for a Cie'th, that's just disturbing. At the end of the path, we faced two Unusual Cie'ths. Both of them shield themselves with a barrier. Lightning had to shift into Ravager and cast her Thunder spells on them, while I use my Flamestrike ability.

The Unusual Cie'th battle took a while, but we've manage to defeat them. Me and Lightning stands, looking back at the path we took. I just view at the fallen Cie'th we have slain. "This doesn't make any sense. Why would PSICOM turn people into Cie'th?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Lightning turns and looks up at the vestige. "Perhaps we'll find our answers up there."

I start walking ahead. "Then let's get moving." I say.

Me and Lightning continues on. A large pile of rubble was in our way, so we have to climb over it. Behind that pile of rubble wasn't very welcoming. PSICOM troopers and Cybug companions attacked us. I shifted into Synergist and grant me and Lightning Haste, then I shift into Commando and shoot at the troopers.

One of the Cybugs bites at Lightning. I shoot it, destroying it. Lightning finishes off the troopers and we move on ahead. More troopers and soldiers stands in our way, with Cybugs and Pantheron. These battles were formed into groups, so me and Lightning both attacked in Commando with Blitz (In case you're unaware, my version of Blitz is using the Throwing Stars, throwing a hand full of them, which is four, at the enemies.)

The Pantheron's and Cybugs fell fast from the double Blitz. I shift into Shaman and attack PSICOM with Flamestrike, Lightning strikes at PSICOM as well. The soldiers strikes at me, I shift into Saboteur and cast Deprotect on all the soldiers. Lightning makes a quick kill on them and finishes off the troopers as well.

Me and Lightning continues down the path. "PSICOM just doesn't know when to quit, do they?" I asked.

Me and Lightning arrived at the end of the path, the wall. The PSICOM Vestige is right above our heads. We take the ramp path on the side. On our way, we run into trouble with Winged Cie'th. We stopped and start shooting at the creatures. The Winged Cie'ths strikes at us. One of them does Wind Gale, striking at us with half a dozen of razor winds.

Lightning had to shift into Medic and heal us. The Winged Cie'th gathers, then I shift into Commando and do Blitz on them. One reminds, and Lightning shifts back into Commando and finishes it. We continue down the path. We reached to the end at one direction, make the U-turn and run up the path above. More Winged Cie'ths attacked us. I shift into Saboteur and cast Deprotect and Deshell on them. Lightning starts off with a Ruin spell then shoots at them with her Gunblade. I shift back into Commando and join Lightning on the shooting. The Winged Cie'th falls quickly, then we continue on.

We arrived at the top, at the front steps of the Vestige. Me and Lightning arrives at the Vestige. The entrance is guarded by only two troopers. "The entrance is guarded." I say.

"Is it? I didn't notice." Lightning says sarcastically.

I looked a little hurt hearing Lightning say that. "Right...so what's the plan?"

Lightning takes out her Gunblade. "What else is there?"

Lightning charges in. I sigh, taking out my bow. "It is pretty obvious." I follow Lightning from behind.

The troopers notices use coming up. "Huh! Hey! Intruders!" The two troopers rushes out of their positions and battles us. Lightning strikes at them while I shoot with Flamestrike. Troopers shoot at us, they didn't deal much damage to us, so we kept on striking at them, until they fall.

Me and Lightning stands in front of the entrance of the Vestige. We look up at the vestige then at the door. I cross my arms in front of my chest. "Now...how are we gonna get inside?"

Lightning steps up. She grabs the crack in the center and pulls the doors open. But that doesn't work, the doors don't even budge. Lightning groans as she uses all of her strength to open it. After a minute of trying, Lightning stops. She steps back, then strikes at the door with her weapon. I just stand back and watch, this clearly isn't helping.

Lightning soon gets tired of attacking, I get tired of watching. I walk up, moving Lightning out of the way. "Step aside. I'll show you how it's done." I reach into one of my pouches. I take out an explosive device. Lightning seems surprised to see it.

"You still carry those things around?" She asks.

I look over my shoulder to face Lightning as I set the device. "If there's one thing I've learned during my years as a Mercenary, it's that you've always got to be prepared for anything." The device is set, then I hook it up on the wall. I turned it on, set to go off in ten seconds. "There. Take cover!"

Me and Lightning makes a run for it. We hide behind a small trench about twenty feet from the vestige. 3...2...1...BOOM! A loud explosion and a dense smoke happens. We wait for half a minute, then we stand up, taking a look. At first, there's nothing but black smoke, then it starts to clear, revealing a blown entrance where the doors use to be. Me and Lightning comes out of the trench and approaches at the entrance. I smile and turn to face Lightning.

"And that is how it's done." I say. Lightning rolls her eyes at me, then rolls them straight ahead. I give an upset look, finding her silent offensive. "'Gee, Patrick. That was brilliant idea you had there.'" I shrugged my shoulders. "Why thank you, Light."

I walk up behind Lightning. The girl just stands in place, looking at the inside of the vestige. I stop right next to Lightning, taking a view of the vestige. "This sure brings back memories. Just like the one from Bodhum." I say.

"Yeah, well we're not here to take a trip to memory lane." Lightning says.

"If we were, I think I would visit Oerba." I say.

"Whatever. There's got to be some control room in here." Lightning faces forward and start walking ahead. "Somewhere..." I follow Lightning.

We wonder down the Ambulatory. The path we take is crawling with PSICOM troopers, Cybugs and Pantheron's. Me and Lightning takes on the enemy. I focus on the companions while Lightning takes out the troopers. The Cybugs and Pantheron's strikes me, one of them was a hard hit. Lightning finishes off the last trooper, then she shifts into Medic and casts Cure on me. When she's done healing, she shifts back into Commando and helps me finish off the enemies.

We continue down the path, cutting down any of the PSICOM troops in our way. Each battle gets hard, mostly cause their numbers are greater then before, mostly like five or six of them in each battle. But it wasn't enough to stop me and Lightning. We run up the stairs to next floor level.

At the top of the steps, we've noticed something. Three PSICOM troopers with a Shambling Cie'th. Something's strange. The troopers aren't shooting at the thing, and the Cie'th is barely even moving. Lightning and I hides by the stairs, out of sight watching.

"What's going on?" I whispered. "Why aren't they fighting?"

"A bigger question would be is why is that Cie'th doing nothing." Lightning asks.

One of the troopers takes out a control. It activates the strange chip device on the Cie'ths head. The Cie'th makes a eerie sound and stands straight...or whatever it's usual stance is. "There! The device is now working." One of the troopers says.

"Device? What are they talking about?" I whispered.

One of the troopers turns, and we were spotted. "Who's there!" The other troopers take notice of the alert. Me and Lightning comes out of hiding. The troopers and the Cie'th attacks us.

Lightning shifts into Ravager and cast her Thunder spells at the troopers. I shift into Saboteur and do Deprotect on the troopers and Shambling Cie'th. The troopers shoots at us, and the Shambling Cie'th strikes at Lightning. I shift back into Commando and start shooting at the troopers. Lightning shifts into Commando and attacks the Cie'th.

The troopers and the Cie'th falls. After battle, me and Lightning takes the moment to rest. I kneel down in front of the dead Cie'th. I noticed a small chip device on it's head. I remove it, taking a close look at this. "Hey, Light. Check this out." I stand up, Lightning stands next to me, looking at the device. "Looks like some kind of mind control chip."

Lightning takes it and takes a close look at it. "First turning people into Cie'th, now taking control of the Cie'th? What is PSICOM up to?"

"I didn't think such a thing is even possible." I say.

Lightning crushes the chip in her hands, or fingers in this case, then moves on ahead. "Let's go." Me and Lightning walks down the path. We walk up the stairs, then turn right. We run into more troopers and Cie'th on our way and we cut them down. After clearing the path, we continue on. There are two paths. We face the one that goes up to what was once Amina's Throne.

Lightning walks up that path, standing in front of the large door that's blocking our way. Lightning tries to open it, but fails. "It's locked." I stand next to her, looking up at the door. "I don't suppose you have another explosive do you?"

"I do, but I don't think it'll work." I put my hand on the wall, feeling it. "Titanium Steel. These things are near to impossible to blow open."

Lightning sighs. "Great. Now what?"

I turn to the next path, which leads us to the House of Stairs. "How about over there?"

Lightning turns her head to the path I'm pointing at. "Might as well. Better then nothing." Lightning and I take that path.

On the path, we fight the Winged Cie'th and Wisps, Cybug wasps. Me and Lightning shoots at them with my Flamestrikes and her Gunblade. The Wisps attacks me and Lightning, two with their claws and one by shooting from its stinger. The Winged Cie'th also attacked us. Lightning shifts into Medic and casts Cure on me then herself. I shifted into Saboteur and cast Deprotect on the enemies. While I'm doing that, Lightning shifted into Commando and shoots at them.

Half of the enemies were destroyed. By then, I shifted into Commando and help Lightning finish them. When the enemies are defeated, we both continued on. We stop at the center of the House of Stairs. We looked around, there's hardly any other paths to take to continue on.

I look ahead and noticed a glass tube that's green. "What's this?" I walk up the multiple stairs, with Lightning following me from behind. I approach the tube and push the button. The glass turns from green to orange. Some other glass tubes glows orange, then the floors and stairs floating around starts shifting and moving.

The floors reveal a staircase doing downwards. "A new passage." Lightning says, heading towards it. Me and Lightning runs up the stairs, then we run down the path. PSICOM soldiers and Pantheron's attacked us on this path. I take on the proto little beasts while Lightning handles the soldiers. The Pantheron's fell quickly, then I helped Lightning out with the soldiers.

After taking out the soldiers, we move on ahead. The path takes us into the Oblatorium. We start at the center area where me, Hope and Vanille got attacked by Cie'th before the l'Cie curse back on Cocoon.

"Now this place brings back memories." I say, looking around. "It's a wither bitter one since Villier's almost killed me and Vanille back then."

Lightning looks at me with concern. "What happened?"

"Eh. I came here with Hope and Vanille. We were attacked by Cie'th then that moron came in. He unleashed one of his grenades too close to Vanille's location. The girl fell and I dove in to save her." I turn to Lightning. "Wasn't a soft landing either."

"And you left Hope behind?" Lightning asks.

"Well, I wasn't planning to. I was climbing back to this place even, then the rope snapped." I say. "I was glad the kid was save with you."

Lightning smiles a little, but then a loud eerie Cie'th screech happens. Me and Lightning are on the other. Tons of Ghoul Cie'th starts stumbling out from both sides of the area. Soon enough, me and Lightning becomes surrounded.

"Huh. Just like old times." I say, taking out my bow while Lightning takes out her Gunblade.

Me and Lightning attacks the Cie'th monsters. Lightning repeatly does her Blitz ability on the Cie'ths. I shifted into Synergist and cast Haste on myself then Lightning, then I shift into Commando and join Lightning on the Blitz frenzy. Very few Ghouls survived. Those that died were replaced with more Ghouls. The survivors strikes us before me and Lightning finished them. Whenever one of us is weak, Lightning shifts into Medic and healed us, then shifts back into Commando and resumes Blitzing.

The battle was rough, but we were able to defeat them all. We take a moment to catch our breath. "Whew. That was...quite refreshing." I say. "On the bright side, none of us got blown off."

Lightning looks at all the corpses that surrounds us. "All these Cie'th...PSICOM's defiantly up to something." Lightning says.

"Whatever it is, we're gonna put an end to their little plans." I say, moving on ahead. Lightning follows me from behind.

We run down the path in the middle passage, heading towards the Sacrarium. We entered the Sacrarium, the whole area is crawling with soldiers, troopers and Cybugs.

We fight any of the enemies that got in our way. Some of them fights back. I shift into Saboteur, weakening their defenses, then to Synergist and apply Haste and Lightning and I, just to get the fights done faster.

After taking on the first wave, we continue moving our way, heading to the northern part of the area, and then take on the next wave of PSICOM enemies. I focus on the troopers and Lightning takes on the Cybugs. They weren't much of a challenge, we downed them easy. Then we continue on taking on the next wave of enemies. This one's just the Cybugs and a few Pantheron's. They are just a cake walk. We even killed them before they even had the chance to attack back.

After taking them down, we moved downwards, arriving at the point when me, Hope and Vanille crashed into the vestige. There, we're greeted by PSICOM troopers and a soldier. Lightning focuses on attacking the soldier while I take on the troopers. The troopers shoot at me, I then shift into Saboteur, casting Deprotect on them. The soldier strikes at Lightning. Lightning shoots twice then casts a Ruin spell, finishing off the soldier. I shift back into Commando and begin shooting at the troopers. In no time, they are down.

Me and Lightning walks ahead. We spotted the old Velocycle that Vanille and Hope hijacked, and that large hole in the wall we broken into. "Well, look that at." I walk up to the Velocycle, taking a good look at it. Lightning stands back, just watching me. "Even the old Velocycle's still here." I then turns m attention to the hole on then all. "I'm surprised they haven't fixed that hole."

"What's so special about that?" Lightning asks, uninterested.

I turned to facing Lightning. "If you must know, Hope and Vanille hijacked this Velocycle. It's how they ended up in this vestige in the first place."

"And you didn't stop them?" Lightning asks.

"I tried too, but they took off before I had the chance to stop them." I say. "My only opinion was to hitch a ride on them." Lightning just stares at me with a disapproval look, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Don't give me that look. I did what I could to stop them. They just didn't listen."

I move on ahead, Lightning follows me. We arrive at the small platform elevator at the end of the southern area. Me and Lightning stands on it and it goes down. We go down until we hit bottom level, then got off.

We arrive in the hallway of Torture Chambers, which is the prison hold for Cie'th. We run down the hallway, with no enemies encountered. Soon enough, we arrived at the Torture Chambers room. There, we find Cie'th and PSICOM fighting each other. Me and Lightning seems a bit surprised to see this.

"So now they're fighting each other." Lightning says.

"This is probably before they tried to mind control the Cie'th." I say. "I guess they're trying to get those things under control."

"Maybe." Lightning says, arms crossed and leaning against the wall.

"Right. So what now, General? We fight them or just ignore them?" I asked.

Lightning says nothing, but we just continue on our path. We head straight, making our way to the next hallway. Few of the Cie'th and PSICOM battles ignored us, probably too focused on fighting each other to stop us. Others turned their attention and tried to stop us. When they do, we fight back. Lightning cuts them down while I watch her back and shoot at anyone or anything that tried to blind strike her.

When we defeated those monsters and troopers, we move into the next hallway. We take the zigzag stair ramp that goes on for as far as we can see. I'm guessing just as much as the elevator did.

"After a whole year, I'm surprised that nothing has changed." I say.

As we go up the stairs, we both run into a couple of Winged Cie'th and Wisps. We just can't seem to stop running into trouble, then again, what do we expect? We are members of ORPHAN. The General and the Sergeant and Shadow Hunter. Every enemy we run into, we stop in place and fight the Cie'th and Cybugs. Lightning casts her Ruin Spells while I shoot with Flamestrike. The Cybugs were cleared, now we have to deal with the Cie'th.

The Winged Cie'th strikes at us. I shoot at them, ending one of them, Lightning finishes of the other. After taking them out, we continue moving on. After moving three stories up, we run into more Cybugs and Aerial Shooters. Lightning takes care of the PSICOM shooters while I take on the Cybugs. The Aerial Shooter does rapid shooting, it maybe weak, but it hit fast and a lot.

When I finished the Cybugs, I shift into Saboteur, casing Deprotect on the Aerial Shooters. When they're defenses are weaken, Lightning finishes them with her Gunblade in gun mode.

We continue on ahead. Five more stories up the ramp stairs, we run into the Winged Cie'th. I start off with applying Deshell and Deprotect on them, while Lightning shoots at them. Half of the Cie'th were destroyed by the time I shifted into Commando. The remaining Cie'ths does Razor Wind at us. Half a dozen razors at us, which is a total of eighteen. Lightning shifts into Medic, healing the both of us. I finished off the Cie'th and we continue on.

Me and Lightning make it to the top, reaching to the entrance of Central Sanctum, which is what was the starting zone of the formerly Amina's Throne. We entered the large area. We were approaching at the sealed door that was preventing us from entering. I walk up to it.

"Let's see what we have here." I take a look at the keypad on the wall by the side of the door. I push a few keynotes and the door slides open in the end. "There. Shortcut opened."

"That'll come in handy." Lightning says. Lightning faces towards the path ahead, which is packed with PSICOM Huntress's and Officers. She looks at the door up the stairs. "The control room is probably that way."

"Let's check it out." I say.

Me and Lightning moves on ahead. PSICOM members attacked us, wave by wave. The Huntress's are fast attackers, and quite the knockouts as well. Me and Lightning can barely get the chance to attack them. *Sighs* If only I can have my Curse, Slow and Vigilance. Lightning heals us up while I shifted into Synergist and apply Haste on the both of us, then I shift into Saboteur and cast Deprotect on all. I had a bit of an interrupt before I finished then I finished my goal.

Me and Lightning shifts into Commando and strike at the Huntress's. The PSICOM officer knocks Lightning in the air with his lance. I finish of the Huntress's, by then, Lightnings back on her feet. We both attacked the officer, finishing it. That was only the beginning of the crowd of enemies we're gonna have to face before we can get to the control room.

It takes a while, and putting up a few irritations, but we've manage to defeat all the PSICOM members in the hall. Me and Lightning went up the stairs, entering Halls of Justice. The Halls of Justice isn't much, only about seven controlled Cie'th, Shamblings, and two officers.

Me and Lightning fights our way through the hallway. Lightning makes an easy kill with the Cie'th, I focus my attacks on the officers. The battles in here was much better then the ones in the Central Sanctum. I guess it's because those annoying Huntress's aren't around to interfere.

After taking out our enemies, we walk to the end of the path, approaching on the elevator. The elevator takes us to the high level. We arrive at the platform just in front of the doors to the control room. Me and Lightning just stands in place near the center of the platform. We look down at the very ground in front of us.

"This I would never forget." I say. "This is when we were all together..."

"When Serah turned to crystal." Lightning says.

Me and Lightning can just picture that moment. The both of us and Sazh found Serah on the floor. Snow showed up. When he did, she turned to crystal. Completed her Focus. It was a sad moment for all of us. Not too sad for me, for I knew that Serah turning to crystal is better then turning Cie'th. Then I would have to repeat my dark past with my father.

"That was the moment that changed our fate. That changed everything." Lightning says.

"'L'Cie who complete their focus turns to crystal and is blessed with the gift of eternity.'" I cross my arms. "Legends overcome reality."

"The moment she turned to crystal. I have lost all hope. I thought it was all over." Lightning looks down. She clinches her hand into a fist in front of her chest. "I have already lost my parents. Serah...she was my whole world. With her gone, I just..."

I put my hand on Lightnings back, earning her attention. "I know how you felt, Serah was my one and only friend back then." I give her a hard pat on the back, which made her stumble forward a little bit. "Ah! What's to worry? I mean. Everything turned out great! Serah's alive and well, got some new friends, a new family."

"Yeah. That's true." Lightning looks ahead then moves on. I followed her afterwards.

Me and Lightning enters the control room, which is formerly was once Amina's Throne. Me and Lightning walks until we arrive by the entrance. We stand quietly by the entrance, we see a researcher seating by the control panels. Behind the panels is a very large tank, which contains the dead fal'Cie, Amina. And tubes are attached to the tank and are connected to the walls, control panels and minor tanks. It's like they're draining any remaining power that's left behind the body.

"What is going on?" I asked.

"I almost looks like...they're draining the fal'Cie." Lightning says.

"But isn't that fa'Cie dead?" I asked.

"Maybe it is, but I guess that means it's powers still remain with the body." Lightning says.

"And PSICOM are draining that power into the vestige. That pretty much explains the vestige was able to turn people into Cie'th." I say.

Lightning and I faces each other then she nods. We both sneak behind the researcher. I put my hands on the chair. I turn it around, the moment I do, Lightning stabs her weapon in his chest. The researcher didn't even have a second to realize what was doing on. Me an Lightning backs away as his body drops from the chair. What I noticed was that the researcher was holding a smoothie. It looks strangely yellow. I kneel down, take a small whiff. I know that smell. Realizing it, I shot my eyes open and jump into Lightning's arms.

"Lightning!" I shout in worry.

Lightning feels disturbed seeing me like this. "It's just a spilled drink."

I face Lightning hearing that. "Oh. It's not just a spilled drink! It's pineapple!"

Lightning raises an eyebrow. "So?"

"Oh, Lightning! You know I'm dangerously allergic to pineapples! Even the slightest drop on my exposed skin will kill me!" I say. Lightning rolls her eyes, groaning in annoyance, then just drops me out of her arms. "Ow!"

Lightning looks down at me, arms crossed. "How is it that you became a member of ORPHAN?"

I look up at Lightning. "You offered me the job, last time I checked."

Lightning faces straight, realizing it. "...Oh, right." Lightning says. I stand up as Lightning sits on the chair, doing some work on the keyboard screens. "Watch my back."

I take out my bow, turning around keeping an eye out for PSICOM trouble. "Will do."

I stand guard while Lightning looks over some files. There isn't much, just some old files. Lightning finds some classified files that are loaded into a Data COM flash-drive. Lightning tries to open the files, but is locked. After failed attempts, she gets frustrated and slams her fists on the keyboard.

"Damn it! I can't open the files." Lightning says.

I turn, walk up standing next to Lightning. "Whatever's in those files, they didn't want anyone to know about it."

"Which is why they put a lock on it. It'll take some super genius to decode it." Lightning says.

"Well, if it's a super genius we need, let's give it to Hope." I say. "If anyone can decode any data lock, it's him."

Lightning nods. "You're right." Lightning ejects the Data COM and disconnects it. I take the Data COM and put it in one of my pouches. "All right, now let's blow this place up."

Just then, a loud crash and rumble happens. Me and Lightning turns, surprised. The monster is a large machinal creature on four legs, two arms on its back, one with a buzz saw for a hand and the other as a machine gun, two arms on its front with claws and two tails with laser rays on them, one for heat and one for freeze and a drill for a horn on the nose. ORPHAN Hunter X79. You could say the beast is a Final Fantasy XIII version of Materia Keeper of FFVII. [In game, this beast would also be un-staggerable]

Me and Lightning takes out our weapons, positioning ourselves to attack. "This day just keeps getting better and better, don't you think?" I ask.

"You tell me!" Lightning says.

Lightning fights the ORPHAN Hunter X79 head on. I shift into Synergist, giving me and Lightning Haste. ORPHAN Hunter X79 swipes its claws on Lightning. Lightning and I shifted into Shaman, Lightning did Sparkstrike and I did Flamestrike, and we attack ORPHAN Hunter X79. ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots at us with its gun arm. Lightning shifts into Medic, casting Cure on herself, then a little on me. I shift into Saboteur and cast Deprotect on the monster. Lightning shifts back into Shaman and resumes Sparkstriking.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 raises its tails over its body, aiming at me, and fires a heat beam from it's left tail at me. I shift into Commando and start shooting. Lightning shifts into Ravager and casts Thunder repeatly at the monster. ORPHAN Hunter X79 raises its front legs, and repeatly stomps them on Lightning, knocking the girl down and crushing her.

Lightning's at near death. I have decided to use a potion to heal her. After using the potion, I resume shooting. Lightning gets back on her feet and casts Thunder. ORPHAN Hunter X79 makes its way to me. Its horn spins and then impales it at me. Lightning shifts into Medic, casting Cure on me, then shifts into Commando and start attacking.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 statics and malfunctions, then collapses and shuts down. After that fight, Lightning and I put our weapons away. "Man, that was almost too easy." I say. I turn to face Lightning. "Let's blow this place sky high and get out."

Lightning nods. "Right."

Lightning approaches to the control panel. She does some work, activating the self-destruct. When she does, red lights flash, a loud alarming noise going on. A computer voice echoes through the Vestige.

"WARNING! WARNING! SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED! THIRTY MINUTES (30:00) UNTIL DETONATION!"

When Lightning was done, she turns. "Let's go."

I nod, and we head out the door.

[In game, this event is where you have to reach your goal under a time limit. The countdown also happens through battle, you could say you'll have to go through the battles fast. Oh, and there's also no escaping from battle. The time would also fly by when your in the menu, so if you want to adjust equipment and items and such, do it fast.]

Me and Lightning rushes out of the control room, arriving at the platform in the Halls of Justice. When we're at the center, we hear something coming after us. We stopped, and look around. "What was that?" I ask.

Lightning slowly turns to the entrance of the Control Room. "That sounds like..."

There was pause on Lightning's sentence. Just then, an explosion happens at the entrance. Me and Lightning takes cover, resisting the force and smoke. When the smoke begins to clear, we look. To our surprise, it's the ORPHAN Hunter X79.

"WHAT THE HECK!?" I yelled, defiantly surprised. "I thought we totaled that thing!"

ORPHAN Hunter X79 leaps and lands right in front of us on the platform. Lightning scoffs as she and I takes out our weapons. "Then let's send this thing into the junkyard!"

Lightning charges at ORPHAN Hunter X79. I stand back and start shooting it with Flamestrike. ORPHAN Hunter X79 impales its horn at Lightning. I shift into Saboteur, casing Deshell and Deprotect on the machine. Lightning shifts into Shaman, doing Sparkstrike. I shift into Synergist, casting Haste on myself then Lightning. ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots at me and Lightning.

Lightning falls unconscious from the shooting. I take out a Phoenix Down and use it on Lightning, reviving her, then I reapply Haste on her. ORPHAN Hunter X79 makes its way towards me, and swipes its claws at me. I shift into Shaman, doing Flamestrike. Lightning shifts into Commando, casting her Ruin spells on the machine. ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots at me. I shift into Commando and start shooting.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 collapses on the ground. Me and Lightning takes a close look at the machine, making sure it's taken care of. To our curiosity, ORPHAN Hunter X79 takes out its repair wards and starts doing some repairing.

I was surprised to see this. "This thing...it's self-repairing!"

Me and Lightning looks up as we hear the warning computer voice.

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES! (25:00)"

Lightning and I looks back at ORPHAN Hunter X79. "We don't have time to this. Forget the machine! We need to get out of here!"

I nod. "Right!" Me and Lightning puts away our weapons. We didn't bother taking the elevator, so we just jumped over it, landing on the hallway below, then we start running away.

The pathway is clear since we defeated all the enemies on the way. We arrive at the Sanctum Central. ORPHAN Hunter X79 is on our tail. The war machine arrives at the area when me and Lightning are halfway through the room. ORPHAN Hunter X79 leaps high and lands right in front of us. Me and Lightning breaks, stopping in place. ORPHAN Hunter X79 turns to face us.

Me and Lightning takes out our weapons for battle. I start off by shifting into Synergist, giving me and Lightning Haste. Lightning strikes at ORPHAN Hunter X79. ORPHAN Hunter X79 makes it way towards me. I shift into Saboteur, only when I do, it stomps on me repeatly. Lightning shifts into Medic, casting Cure on me. I get back on my feet, then cast Deprotect on ORPHAN Hunter X79.

Lightning shifts into Shaman, doing Sparkstrike. ORPHAN Hunter X79 raises its tail over its body, shooting heat and freeze beams through it's tails. I shift into Commando, shooting at ORPHAN Hunter X79. ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots at me. Lightning shifts into Medic, heals me with Cure, then shifts into Commando and shoots at it.

Me and Lightning attacks the war machine. ORPHAN Hunter X79 swipes its claws, hitting both of us, then it falls. We defeated it...for now. But it didn't matter. As soon as it collapses, we make a run for it.

Me and Lightning arrives at the Ambulatory. We hurry down the stairs, turning left, making the passage towards the exit. We rush down the first set of stairs, down below, we can see the exit.

"There's the exit! Hurry!" Lightning says.

Me and Lightning rushes down the stairs, making a sprint to the exit.

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN TWENTY MINUTES! (20:00)"

Me and Lightning are halfway to the exit, then missiles are launched. The missiles flies over us and hits the wall above the exit. The explosion causes large piles of metal to fall and land in the exit, blocking it. Me and Lightning stops seeing that situation. "What the?" Me and Lightning turns to see it's ORPHAN Hunter X79, it's claws out and open. It launched the missiles from the launchers in its claws. "Are you kidding me!?" I shout.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 leaps and lands in front of the stairs. Me and Lightning takes out our weapons, facing the machine...again.

I shift into Saboteur, casting Deprotect and Deshell. Lightning casts her Ruin spells at ORPHAN Hunter X79. Lightning switches to shooting with her weapon. ORPHAN Hunter X79 strikes Lightning with it's buzz arm. I shift into Synergist, casting Haste on myself then Lightning. ORPHAN Hunter X79 launches its missiles at us. Lightning shifts into Medic, casting Cure on herself.

I shift into Shaman, doing Flamestrike at ORPHAN Hunter X79. ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots at me. Lightning casts Cure on me, then shifts into Ravager and then casts Thunder. The fight goes on, and ORPHAN Hunter X79 is really getting on our nerves. We both shift into Commando and I shoot and Lightning strikes at it. ORPHAN Hunter X79 raises its tail over it's body and shoots its lasers at us.

Me and Lightning kept hitting hard on the war machine, until it falls. When it does, me and Lightning takes a moment to recover our strength. We both turn to the blocked exit, looking at it. "Well, now what?" I asked.

"We could stay here if getting blown to bits sounds better." Lightning says. I can hear that sarcasm in her tone.

I snap my fingers. "I got it!" Lightning looks at me curious. "The Sacrarium. It still has that hole in the wall from the crash a year ago. We can escape from there."

"Well, it's the only opinion we have left. Let's hurry." Me and Lightning runs past the ORPHAN Hunter X79, which is beginning it's self-repair. Me and Lightning runs up the stairs, pass the small area, up the second set of stairs, and we take the path towards House of Stairs.

"SELF DESTRUCT IN FIFTEEN MINUTES! (15:00)"

Me and Lightning arrives at the House of Stairs, with ORPHAN Hunter X79 right on our tail. We didn't bother to look back to see how close it is from us. ORPHAN Hunter X79 leaps pass and lands right in front of us, in the center of the House of Stairs.

Me and Lightning takes out our weapons. "Out of the way!" Lightning yells at it.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 makes the first strike this time. It stomps its front legs on Lightning repeatly. I shift into Synergist, casting Haste on myself then Lightning. Lightning gets back on her feet. First thing she does is she swifts into Medic, casting Cure on herself. ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots at me. I shift into Saboteur, casting Deprotect on it. Lightning shifts into Shaman, doing Sparkstrikes. I shift into Shaman as well, doing Flamestrikes.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 swipes its claws at us, then uses its buzz arm on me. Me and Lightning strikes at ORPHAN Hunter X79. ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots its freeze and heat lasers at us. Lightning shifts into Medic, casting Cure on the both of us. When she's done, we both shift into Commando, and introduced this ORPHAN Hunter X79 into a world of pain.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 collapses and begins to repair itself. As it does, me and Lightning makes a run for it. We run down the path that leads to the Oblatorium. As we run, we hear the computer voice.

"SELF DESTRUCT IN TEN MINUTES! (10:00)"

"I really wish we would have disabled that computer voice before we left the control room! Cause it's really not helping our case!" I say.

"Shut up and just keep running!" Lightning says.

We arrive at the Oblatorium, where the center circle is crowded with Ghoul Cie'th. Me and Lightning stops, taking out our weapons. "Just what we need. Can it get any worse?" I asked.

Just then, ORPHAN Hunter X79 lands right on top of the Cie'th, crushing them, but also getting ready to attack us. Lightning turns her head to face me. "You had to ask?" Lightning says in an irritated tone.

Me and Lightning returns our attention to the OPRHAN Hunter X79 and attack it. Lightning strikes and I do my Flamestrike. ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots at Lightning. I shift into Saboteur, casting Deprotect and Deshell. Lightning shifts into Ravager, casting Thunder. ORPHAN Hunter X79 stomps hard and repeatly at Lightning. I shift into Synergist, casting Haste on myself and Lightning.

Lightning gets back on her feet, shifting into Medic and healing herself. ORPHAN Hunter X79 strikes at me with its buzz arm. Lightning shifts into Shaman doing Sparkstrikes. I shift into Commando, shooting my arrows. ORPHAN Hunter X79 launches its missiles at us. Lightning shifts into Commando, casting a Ruin spell then strikes at ORPHAN Hunter X79.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 collapses, then begins repairing.

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN FIVE MINUTES! (5:00)"

Me and Lightning are on the alert hearing that. "Come on!" Lightning says, running.

Me and Lightning runs off. ORPHAN Hunter X79 finishes its repairing and chases after us. Me and Lightning arrives at the Sacrarium. Me and Lightning arrives at the middle area. We're about to take the path that'll lead us to our only exit, then ORPHAN Hunter X79 jumps in our way.

"Okay! Now I'm getting mad!" I say.

We make our final fight, I'm hoping it's our final fight, against the machine. ORPHAN Hunter X79 makes the first strike by swiping its claws at us. Me and Lightning are both in Shaman and we attack with Sparkstrike and Flamestrike. ORPHAN Hunter X79 impales its drill horn on me. I fall unconscious. Lightning uses a Phoenix Down to revive me. I shift into Saboteur, casting Deprotect on the machine.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots at Lightning. I shift into Synergist, casting Haste on me and Lightning, then I shift into Shaman and continue doing Flamestrikes. ORPHAN Hunter X79 stomps repeatly on me. Lightning shifts into Medic, casting Cure on me, then a little on herself. ORPHAN Hunter X79 slashes its buzz arm on Lightning. Lightning shifts into Ravager, casting Thunder.

I shift into Commando, shooting. ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots freeze and heat lasers from its tails. Lightning shifts into Commando, attacking. ORPHAN Hunter X79 Collapses, and begins repairing.

"Let's go!" I shout!

[Crystarium extended - Stage 2]

Me and Lightning makes a run for it. We run down our path, making our way towards the hole. ORPHAN Hunter X79 finishes its repair, getting back on its legs. Me and Lightning are near to the hole, Lightning is ahead of me. She's already by the hole. She stops to look back at me. I make a run for it as ORPHAN Hunter X79 chases after me. It stops, aims its gun arm at me, shooting.

"Look out!" Lightning takes out her Gunblade, in gun mode, and start shooting back at the monster.

"SELF DESTRUCT IN TEN SECONDS!"

The Computer Voice begins the final countdown. Lightning's shooting only slowed down the ORPHAN Hunter X79 a bit. I made it to our exit and jump, with Lightning joining me shortly afterwards. Our little exit is just a hundred foot drop over the cliff. ORPHAN Hunter X79 just stops on the edge of the exit, looking down, watching me and Lightning fall to our escape.

"FIVE. FOUR. THREE. TWO. ONE..."

The PSICOM vestige unleashes a massive explosion.

Me and Lightning dives deep, the wave force from the explosion barely reached us. Lightning and I spreads our arms and legs, falling stomach first, to reduce our falling speed. We fall near to the cliff, when we do, we switch to falling feet first. We slowly fall closer to the ground of the cliff, and soon landed on our feet at a soft impale, sliding down at high speed as soon as we do.

We slide down the hills until we reach the ground level. We then look up, watching the PSICOM Vestige engulfed in flames. "Well. I'd say mission accomplished." I say.

Lightning crosses her arms in front of her chest. "It could have gone better."

"Hmm...no argument there. I blame that war machine that was chasing us." I say. I stretch my arms in the air. "Well...I don't know about you, but that chase worn me out."

Lightning turns to me. "You saying we call it a day? We have to take the Data COM to headquarters."

"Lightning. It's the New Year's! We went on this mission and that was gonna be it. So the Data COM can wait for just one little day." I say. "Besides, Serah's expecting us right after this mission. Did you forget how she reacted when she heard about this mission?"

Lightning thinks back. This morning, Primarch Raines called us for this mission. When Serah found out, she begged us to postpone it. Cause she wants us to spent the day together as a family.

Lightning sighs, crosses her arms. "All right. Fine."

"I thought so." I say.

I take out a chocobo whistle. I blow it, which sends out a high-pitched chocobo call. It's barely heard for us humans. A minute later, Snowflake arrives. I hop on the Chocobo, then Lightning sits behind me. I grab on the reins, give a gentle whip. "Hyah!"

Snowflake runs through the field. As we leave, Caius stands on one of the small cliffs on the hill. Next to him is some hooded figure with a PSICOM badge, used to button the cloak on the chest.

"You see them? Those are the enemy that dares to stand in our way." The figure says.

Caius sets his eyes on us as we fade away from his sight. "So those are the ones who want to interfere with my mission."

"That is right, Caius." The figure says. "Follow them, and destroy them."

Caius turns so he's facing the figure. "I shall, director. I'll do whatever it takes to save Yeul."

Caius puts a hand on his chest. His l'Cie brand, which is the mark of a Cocoon l'Cie, glows on his chest. A purple outlined eye crystal appears in his hand. Caius crushes it in his hand, then throws it in the air as the sphere starts to form. The sphere explodes, revealing Chaos Bahamut. Chaos Bahamut appears in his air glide form. The eidolon soars through the sky. Caius jumps onto Chaos Bahamut when it flies close, then it goes after me and Lightning.

The PSICOM director stands back and watch. She smiles and gives a single chuckle in amusement.


	4. New Bodhum part I

A/N: The PSICOM Vestige was pretty crazy, wasn't it? The ORPHAN Hunter X79 battle event would be quite amusing if it were game played, wouldn't it? Can't you just picture it? We now move on to New Bodhum. This is part I of the story where we now check out the rest of the gang.

Chapter 2: New Bodhum

* * *

Snowflake starts walking down the path on the fields of Gran Pulse. It's evening and the sun is nearly beginning to set. I wonder how Serah will react when we return home? By now, she's probably having her New Years feast cooking already. It's not exactly New Year's, the one in Winter. However, it has been exactly one year since Cocoon's Fall. Because of the fall, we now created a new home in a new world. So every year, we've decided to celebrate the fall. And since it involves creating and living in a new world, we've decided to make it New Years.

Snowflake walks into a cave which leads us to the cove. When we step back into the sunlight, we look at New Bodhum, which is a large village, just like how it was back on Cocoon. All protected inside a barrier globe that keeps wildlife out.

Snowflake walks through the barrier, the three of us just goes through it like it was a bubble. When we're inside, me and Lightning dismounts from Snowflake. We look back, to see the monsters have followed us, two beasts and a Behemoth. They leap towards us, but the barrier repels them. The monsters get knocked back, then they charge again and attack the barrier, which has no effect at all to their attacks.

"You'd think they would have learned by now." I say.

"You would think PSICOM would learn a thing or two from Hope and the other researchers." Lightning says.

"No fooling." I say.

Me and Lightning goes for a little stroll around town. We figured a little sight seeing wouldn't hurt. Surely Serah wouldn't mind. We soon went our separate ways. I stopped by the jewelry store to do a little business.

[In most towns, there are going to be vendors where you get your equipment, such as weapons, armors and accessories, and items like you do in Lightning Returns. There well also be a Forge vendor where you could level up your equipment, but that'll be currently locked for a few chapters.

Other thing about these towns. During non-invasion or non-assault events, random monsters would just spawn out of no where, like how they did in the original Final Fantasy XIII-2. You know, just to help people keep their characters worked up and stuff like that.]

Meanwhile, a figure enters the city of New Bodhum. Noel Kreiss.

Noel is wearing a black V-neck top with tribal patterns and a pair of angel wings on the back, along with a simple pendant. A leather bracer on his left arm, a ring on his right hand, and wraps his right arm with cord. Large blue sirwal-style trousers with decorated hems, and low-cut sandal-like leather boots. A green pouch and hunter's knife are attached to his belt in the back, which itself is adorned with small lavender ties made of cloth. Under the angel wings on the back of Noel's top and on his dagger, there are lines of Etro script.

He's also wearing a black hooded cloak.

Noel is right now traveling around Gran Pulse. He has been asleep for hundreds of years in a crystal slumber, along with his friends Yeul and Caius. And now he's goes in search for them. Noel walks up to the NORA cafe, the place is a bit packed. He can hardly find a seat. He sits on the stool by the counter.

Noel just sits there, thinking and looking at the menu that lays on the table in front of him. "Hey buddy!" A man next to Noel gives him a hard slap on the back, which startles the young hunter. The man looks very drunk, and there are over dozens of empty glasses right on his part of the table. "You're not from here, are you?"

"Uh..." Noel just feels a bit weirded out, for the man is very strange looking. Mostly cause of being drunk. "No."

The man wraps an arm around Noel. "Well! Let me tell you something! The waitress who works here! She's very sexy!" Noel feels a bit disturbed about this. If it were me, I'd feel completely disturbed. "Over there!" The man turns Noel's attention to Lebreau, who's serving drinks to everyone else throughout the body. "She looks soooo good. Hmm-hmm. Papa likes."

Lebreau turns to the counter with an empty tray. "Excuse me, waitress!" Lebreau looks up at the drunk man. "I'll have another."

"Sir. You'd already had fifteen glasses." Lebreau says.

"Oh fiddlesticks! If I say I want another glass of wine! Then I'll have another glass of wine!" The man protests.

Lebreau sighs. "All right. If you insist." Lebreau fills a glass with wine and hands it to the man. "Here you go, sir."

The man smiles. He drinks while tiling his head back, but he goes too far and loses conscious. The man falls back and out of his seat. Noel looks back and down at the man, concern, then turns his attention back to Lebreau. "Is he okay?"

Lebreau smiles. "It's fine. This happens a lot. Well, welcome to the NORA cafe. How can I help you?"

Noel looks down at the menu, then holds it up in front of him. Noel looks over the menu, wondering what to get, then made his decision. "I'll...have this Tropical Hawaiian Shake."

"Coming right up, sir." Lebreau moves to the back, getting to work on Noel's order.

Noel just sits by, waiting. While he does, he looks around, just watching all the strange people around him, chatting, laughing and smiling. He hardly seen anything like this during his travels.

Lebreau returns with his drink. "Here you go, sir."

Noel takes a sip of his beverage. "This is really good."

"Thank you. It's our speciality." Lebreau says. "Hey, I've never seen you around here. Where you from?"

Noel was silent at first, then speaks. "Somewhere far away."

"I see. What brings you to New Bodhum?" Lebreau asks.

"I'm just looking for my friends." Noel says.

"Well, I hope you'll find them soon enough." Lebreau starts wiping down the counter. "So, you staying for the New Year's celebration tonight?"

Noel seems confused. To him, it's not really New Years day. Then again, he's completely unaware of what we Cocoon citizens have been through with the fall of Cocoon. So he just goes with it...sort of.

"I can't. I should be moving on." Noel says.

"Well, why don't you stay for the night. Won't hurt yea." Lebreau says. "Oh, you should defiantly stay for the fireworks tonight. You don't want to miss that, especially since their wish granting fireworks."

Noel seems a bit amused. "I'll...consider it." Noel says. "Wait. What do you mean 'Wish granting fireworks'?"

"Well, when you make a wish on a firework, it'll come true." Lebreau says.

Noel was silent, just takes a sip of his drink.

I start walking down the streets, with a bouquet filled with few roses, black-eyed susans, daffodils and lilac. It's New Years and people often place flowers on the memorial fountain for the dead. These four types flowers were my mothers favorite and I decided to place them on the fountain, to honor her sacrifice for my life. Me and Snowflake arrived at the fountain, where we find a bunch of children gathering around it, who are also placing their flowers around the plaque, all though they'd leave the in front of the plaque open for people to stand and read the inscription.

"What are you doing here?" I turn to see Lightning approaching me. "Here to talk to your parents?"

"Not exactly." I hold up the flowers up in front of Lightning. "I'm giving flowers for my mother."

Lightning takes one of the roses, looking right at it. "I see."

"All of these were her favorite." I say.

Lightning takes a look at the whole bouquet. "They all look like the ones you grow around the house. Is that why you make a garden filled with these?" Lightning gives back the one rose she was holding.

When we had our mansion, I had decided to grow these flowers all around the house, just a way of making a memorial for my mother. I guess I would also include my father since he use to do this soon after his wife's death. I decided to do it for the both of them.

"Sort of. You see, my mother was a gardener. She loved to plant flowers, for herself and others. She even ran her own gardening company called 'Grow in Peace'." I say.

Lightning looks at me, surprised. "Grow in Peace? Your mother made that company?" I nodded. "My mother use to buy flowers from them."

Now I'm surprised to hear that. "Really? Huh, what a small world." The line starts moving, and so do I and Lightning. "After my mothers death, my father decided to grow these flowers all over our house, as a memorial for her."

"Your dad was a gardener too?" Lightning asks.

"Not really. He's not fond with gardening...in fact, he's actually allergic to the pollen." Lightning gives a wooden look with a raised eyebrow, like she's thinking. 'why the heck would he do that?'

"Your dad risked allergies just to carry on your mothers memorial garden?" Lightning asks.

"I know. I always thought he's crazy for doing that." I say.

I was now in front of my fountain. I kneel down and lay my flowers down with the others. "Have you always done this memorial garden back on Cocoon?"

I stand back up, me and Lightning move aside so other people can do their offering. "Not really. I was so overwhelmed with guilt and despair, I didn't feel worthy of carrying on my fathers tradition. Even if I did, I wouldn't bother since my place was kind of a dump."

Lightning thinks back to when we went to my place after the fall. Besides the place being trashed from the crystal, she can tell it wasn't a nice place. Just a small house that can only room for two! The only other room there ever was in it was the bathroom.

"Well, you might have a point. Wait, your parents lived in that place? It seemed pretty small for them and you." Lightning says.

"Oh no. That wasn't they house I grew up in." I say. "I left that house cause I couldn't live in it anymore."

"Because of your father?" Lightning says.

"You know me so well, Farron." I say with a smile.

After our small conversation back there, we headed for our home. Behind the fountain, we took the path that leads to the stairs, which leads to the plateau. On the top, we've arrived at the gates. Me and Lightning opens the gates, entering the courtyard of our large mansion.

We both stopped by the stables to place Snowflake in. I take a beg of gysahl greens, pour some right on the floor in her stall. Snowflakes kwehs and starts eating. I smile and give a small chuckle seeing her. I put the beg away so I could give the chocobo and pet on the back.

"You are a good girl, you know that?" I tell Snowflake.

Lightning just stands back, leaning against a pillar that's holding the stables roof, arms crossed. Lightning turns her attention to the front door of the house, then turns back to me. "You coming in?"

"Later. Need to take care a few things first." I say.

"All right, then." Lightning makes her leave from the stables.

As she walks, her pace slows a bit and she looks down at the garden of flowers in front of the mansion walls. Lightning thinks about what I told her about what my father did after my mothers death. She never imagined herself or anyone of doing such a thing for their parents. Then again, she thinks if they would if their parents were gardeners.

Lightning arrives at the door. She opens it then walks right in, closing the door behind her. "Welcome home, Light."

Lightning looks up to see that voice came from Hope Esithem. Hope's outfit are long blue jeans, goes down his ankles this time, black shirt and white long sleeve jacket, a dark green shoulder pauldron with a single yellow highlight on his left shoulder, without gloves, black neckerchief, a satchel resting on his right with its strap hanging from his left shoulder, black boots. With his mothers golden necklace with a rhombus shaped sapphire pendant.

"Hi, Hope." Is all Lightning says to the boy.

Serah comes in from the kitchen. "Lightning!" Serah's outfit, her's is the one she wears in the FFXIII-2 game known as "Summoner's Garb" (Don't really know how to describe it exactly) with her crystal tear within her engaged necklace. The girl is also wearing a messy apron, she's currently working on dinner.

Serah rushes up to her sister and hugs her. "You're home! I missed you."

Lightning's just wide eyed, she's not really shocked nor irritated. "Serah, I was only gone for a few hours."

"I know. I was just worried." Serah disbands the hug. "Where's Patrick?"

"He's outside, just taking care of a few things." Lightning says.

Snow also arrives from where Serah came in. Snow's outfit are black trousers, red shirt, black trench coat that's torn on the end, black and silver boots, black gloves and wearing his old bandana cap.

"Hey, sis." Snow says in a greet.

"I'm not your sister." Lightning says, giving him an irritated tone and stare.

"Hey, take it easy, Light." Snow says.

"I let you marry my sister, didn't I?" Lightning says. There was silence for a moment, then Lightning says and heads for the living room. "I'm sorry. I just had a rough day."

Serah, Hope and Snow follows Lightning. The soldier girl crashes on the chair. "What happened on your mission?" Hope asked.

Lightning groans. "I was knocked off the PSICOM train, had to fight my way through the vestige against PSICOM troopers, robotic creatures, monstrous Cie'th. Don't even get me started on those Huntresses in the Central Sanctum, they're the worst." Hope and Serah are taking in everything Lightning's saying. They, mostly Hope, can really imagine what she's been through. "I'm not even gonna bring up my partner jumping into my arms afraid."

Hope and Serah are confused and disturbed to hear that. They looked at each other, exchanging looks, then back at Lightning. "That doesn't sound like Patrick. What happened?"

"Ah, we killed some researcher in the control and he happened to be holding some beverage that apparently is pineapple." Lightning says.

Hope and Serah are completely shocked to hear that. Both of them even said 'What?' at the same time. "Lightning. You know he's dangerously allergic to pineapples!" Serah says.

"I know he is. But still, it's no reason to be scared like a child and jump into my arms." Lightning says.

Snow on the other hand is confused. "Wait. What happens when Patrick has pineapple?"

"He swells up, breaks down in hives and he can't breath." Serah says. "Even just touching it and he'll go into reaction."

"Yeah, well. It's not as bad as what happened next." Lightning says, earning Hope's and Serah's attention again. "When we activated the self-destruct, some giant war machine came out of no where and attacked us. After we defeated it, it repaired itself and chased after us. We fought that thing several times. Barely made it out with a couple of seconds to spare."

"Wow. Sounds tough." Snow says.

Lightning groans, she moves her hand to the back of her neck, rubbing it wither poor. "You okay?" Hope asks.

"Yeah. Just got this aching feeling." Lightning says.

Hope moves to behind the chair Lightning's sitting on. "Here. Let me help."

"Thanks, Hope. But I don't need any-" Hope starts rubbing his hands on Lightning's neck. Just like that, the girl subdues. "Oh...oh." Lightning starts to relax. "Oh...that does feel good."

"Hey, Serah!" Serah turns to see Fang entering the living room, who's still wearing her Yun clan outfit. Vanille and Sazh are also still wearing their outfits from a year ago. (They're not really in view, but I thought you guys should know) "You gonna help me and Vanille out or are we gonna finish the cooking ourselves?"

"Oh! Right!" Serah hurries back into the kitchen with Fang.

I open the door, walking right in. I make my way to the living room, seeing Hope behind Lightning giving her a neck and shoulder rub. "Well. That's something you don't see everyday." I say.

Hope and Lightning turns to face me. Hope seems nervous then retreats his hands from Lightning. "Nothing...nothing's happening." Hope says.

"Right." I walk to Hope. "Hope. We need a favor from yea." I reach into my beg, taking out the Data COM. "This flash drive was from the control room. We believe it contains valuable data from PSICOM. But it's locked like a bank vault."

"And you want me to decode it?" Hope asks. I nod, and Hope takes the Data COM. "All right. I'll take this to the headquarters tomorrow."

I turn and make my leave. "Hey, Patrick." Snow says.

I just turn my head over my shoulder, looking at him giving him a cold glare. "Snow." My tone was cold as well, but I keep on moving.

Snow turns to Lightning and Hope. "I think he's starting to warm up on me."

"Keep dreaming." Lightning says.

Outside in the city, Noel goes for a walk down the streets. He's still trying to adjust to the sudden new village in Gran Pulse. Noel gets some strange looks from the people he walks by. They have never seen anyone like him around. They even mutter about him. Noel rolls his eyes at the citizens, but still moving.

Noel arrives at the Central Plaza, where he spots the large memorial fountain. "Huh. So this is must be the memorial statue." Noel stands in front of the plaque, just looking up at the statute of the crystalized Cocoon. Noel looks down, seeing the plaque. He kneels down to read it. Noel just mutters through the words, then speaks out loud. "'The heroes of Cocoon' Huh?" Noel stands up, looking up at the pillar statue. "Cocoon...why does that sound familiar?"

"It's so beautiful, isn't it?" Noel turns to see a lady looking up at the statue.

"Uh...sure." Noel says. "Hey, what's with this...statue?"

"It's a memorial for the fall of Cocoon." The lady says. "Last year, a group of l'Cie attacked our home world. We all feared them cause they were made to destroy Cocoon. But instead, they saved it from its own destruction."

"Right...So...you're all...Cocoon people?" Noel asks. The lady nods. "Are there any people who are from Pulse? Anyone?"

The lady thinks for a moment, looking up at the crystal fountain. "Hmm...I think Vanille and Fang are. Other then that...nope." The lady walks off.

Noel was silent. He looks up at the pillar on the fountain. "Yeul...it seems we're the last people on Gran Pulse." Noel turns around, looking at the people walking around. "They don't seem like a threat...can we really trust these Cocoon people?" Noel is silent for a moment, he looks back at the statue as if he's expecting an answer. "I wish Caius was here to help us out." Noel crosses his arms and look down. "What's happening with him?"

Back at the mansion, we all sat on the table, dinning on the feast the girls, minus Lightning, had prepared. Just some Behemoth Meatloaf, Sahagin Stew, fruit salad and pineapple stuffing, and a small bit of just regular stuffing for me. It wasn't easy for Serah to cook for nine people, would have been thirteen, but the NORA gang had to work late at the NORA shop, and they also decided to have dinner there.

In the end, we're all stuffed, sighing in relief at the delicious meal. "Oh Serah. That was delicious." Snow says.

"Indeed it is. You have out done yourself." I say.

Serah smiles, turns her head to facing Vanille and Fang, who's sitting together at the end of the table. "Well. I can't take all the credit."

Vanille giggles, Fang just smirks. "Man, how time flies. I can't believe it's been a whole year." Sazh says.

"I know." Hope says. "It seems just like yesterday, Serah and Dajh were in crystal while the rest of us are wanted fugitives."

"And here we are, all together." Vanille adds.

Hope nods at Vanille. "That's right."

Serah stands up. "Well, time to do the dishes." Serah gathers the empty dishes around the table.

Hope stands up and gathers some as well. "I'll help."

I stand up, heading for the exit. "I'm off to tend the garden." Vanille stands up and heads for the exit with me. The girl didn't say much. I know she's following me but don't bother with it or anything. Everyone else just stayed at the table.

Serah and Hope carries the dishes to the sink. There are two kitchen sinks, side by side with each other. Serah does the dishes on the left sink and Hope does dishes in the right. Hope and Serah does the dishes for a while. Hope stops for a moment then turns his head to face Serah. "Hey, Serah." Serah gives Hope her attention. "Uh...I wanna ask you something?"

Serah sets the dishes down, looking surprised. "Me? ...Why me?"

"What do you mean?" Hope asks.

"It's just that, whenever you need help with anything, you always went to my sister. I'm surprised you came to me." Serah says.

"Well, I don't think Lightning can really help me with this one." Hope says.

"Really? What's it about?" Serah asks.

Hope holds his hands together, looking pretty shy. "Uh...it's about this girl."

Serah gasps. Instantly, she grabs Hopes shoulders and pulls him close to her, she's in his face. "Tell me everything!" Serah's tone was over excited.

Hope is wide eyed, look both shocked and horrified. He's not really scared, but wasn't expecting this reaction from Serah. "Uh...well, she's really nice. And pretty. And...she's also a close friend of mine."

Serah nods at every compliment he makes of this girl, to encourage him to continue. "Well who is she?"

Hope takes a step back. "I-I can't really say who she is."

"Oh? Well, have you told her how you feel?" Serah asks.

Hope looks down and away in shame. "Uh...that's the problem." Serah tilts her head to the side. "I don't really know how to tell...how I feel. I'm afraid...she wouldn't like me back." Hope looks back at Serah. "What should I do?"

Serah chuckles a little. "Oh, Hope. Don't be so shy." Serah gives Hope a playful shove on the shoulder. "Just be honest and tell her."

Hope seems very unsure. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. You're a nice guy." Serah holds her hands behind her back. "So sweet, kind, helpful." Serah blushes a little at her next comment. "Cute too..." Hope can feel himself nervous hearing that, not in a fear way. "You're also very mature for your age. Any girl would be lucky to have you."

"Well...thank you, Serah." Hope says. "But...I'm still not sure."

Serah puts her hands on Hopes shoulder, making him look at her in the eyes. "Trust me, Hope. Just walk up to her and say it. Oh, and maybe bring her some flowers. It's the best way to start up the conversation."

Hope nods and smiles. "Okay. I'll do it."

Meanwhile, I'm standing outside, on my knees taking care of the flowers in the garden. Vanille walks up to me, hands behind her back. She looks at the row of flowers.

"It's all so pretty." Vanille says.

"Yeah. My mother had a unique taste in flowers." I say, earning a giggle from Vanille.

Vanille sits down beside me, knees up and arms wrapped around her legs. She just sits there, watching me. I stand up, getting the water can. I return to the flowers, pour some water in the flowers.

"Hey, Patrick?" I turn to look at Vanille. "Um...I was wondering. What's your mother like?"

I raise an eyebrow hearing that. "My mother?"

"Yep. You hardly ever talked about her." Vanille says. "All I know about her is that necklace your wearing." Vanille points at the necklace around my neck. I grab the diamond heart as she does, then return my attention to the flowers. Vanilles smile disappears, titles her head in confusion. "Your mother...her fate...wasn't as bad as your fathers was it..." Vanille seems horrified. "Or worse."

I chuckled hearing that. "Trust me, Vanille. Nothing's worse then murdering my own father." I say. "Anyways, my mother died during a Purge that happened sixteen years ago. As for your question about her..." I look up, thinking. Nothing came to thought. "I don't really remember much about her. I was too young to remember. I do remember that she was always free-spirited." I look at Vanille with a small smile. "Kind of like you. Only...just not crazy like you."

Vanille smiles, eyes sparkling. "Really..." Then that smile disappears with disappointment. "Hey!"

I chuckled, returning my attention back to the flowers. "So far, all I remember was the stuff my father told me. That she use to be a gardener and all that."

"Is that way you're making a garden for the house? For your mother?" Vanille says.

"Hmm...well, sort of. You see, my father actually did this as a memorial for my mother soon after she died. I'm just carrying on his tradition." I say.

"I think that's very sweet." Vanille says. Vanille helps me out tending to the flowers.

The next two hours have passed. Nothing much has happened, but everyone is getting ready for the New Years Fireworks. There's a small island in the middle of the sea where the fireworks are going to be. People usually sits by the shores, at the edge of the piers or on the cliffs of the cove to watch the fireworks. The one thing that's special about this event is that we Heroes of Cocoon didn't have to do anything particular or special. Usually someone big and power would have to do something special, but not for us. We get to set back and relax like everyone else is on New Years.

We all left the house and went our separate ways. Hope went to the flower shop, one of the "Grow in Peace" stores. Hope bought about a bouquet of roses, in each color there was. Hope leaves the store. He stops by the door, takes a deep breath through the nose then exhales from the mouth.

"Okay. Remember what Serah said. You can do this." Hope walks off.

Fang and I hang out by the NORA cafe. We sit in front of each other on the booth, waiting for our beverages.

"Yeah, well. It's too bad you're no longer a Mercenary." Fang says.

"Why's that?" I ask.

"Ah, well. I could have used an extra hand on my hunting job. We ran into some crazy monsters, nearly turned us into dinner." Fang says.

I was silent for a moment, only raised an eyebrow. "Right. Well sorry to spoil your little request for help. But I'm a member of ORPHAN now."

"I'm well aware of that." Fang leans her head towards me. "Maybe you could use the money to pay me back that Velocycle you stoled from me."

"Yeah. I'll get to that once we start making those things again." I say with a slight sarcasm. "We're probably far beyond that. Even ORPHAN Inc. is still under construction."

"And yet you and Lightning and Hope are using that building." Fang says.

"Only the first ten floors. The rest are still either under construction or too close to the construction." I say.

"What's wrong with the floors that are too close to construction?" Fang asks.

I look irritated hearing that. Isn't the answer obvious enough? "Too loud for thinking or concentrating and half of the researchers and soldiers were sent to the hospital."

Fang sits back and chuckles. "Bunch of crybabies if you ask me."

I give a low growl, looking down. Just then, Lebreau arrives with our drinks. She hands them to us then walks off. I take a quiet sip. Fang just holds her cup. "So. You're doing better at accepting that Serah's marrying Snow."

I give a bit of a bitter look hearing that. "Yeah, well. I'm not proud of it. I'm still surprised that Lightning's accepting that idiot to be her brother."

"Hey. I'm curious." I look at Fang. "Do you...have feelings for Serah?"

"No I don't! Why does everyone keep thinking that?" I say.

"Relax, honey." Fang says.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" I say to Fang.

Fang sits back, slightly turning her head, barely whispering. "Yeesh. Someone's had a rough day on that mission."

"I heard that." I say. Well, she isn't wrong. I blame that ORPHAN Hunter X79.

Sazh and Vanille are just sitting on the pier, watching the ocean view, with Dajh sitting in between them. "It's so beautiful." Vanille says.

"Ha, yeah. It sure does bring back memories." Sazh says.

Vanille faces Sazh. "Hey. You're still not mad at me about...that incident, are yea?"

Sazh smiles and gives a chuckle. "Oh, come on, Vanille. That was a long time ago. Besides, no harm's done." Sazh puts a hand on Dajhs head. "After all, my little boy's right here. Alive and well." Vanille smiles as she watches the old man and the little boy laughing. "Besides, you saved his life when he was suffering pneumonia."

Vanille nods. "Yep."

Sazh lifts Dajh. The kid sits on his shoulders, laughing. The chocobo chick pops out of Sazh's afro and chirps. The chocobo flies out and lands in Dajh's afro. Sazh stands up and walks off. Vanille looks back, watching the two leave, then returns her attention to the ocean view.

Serah and Snow are now walking by the beach shores of New Bodhum, holding hands. Serah smiles as they walk. After walking for a while, they both sit on the soft sand, just by the edge of the shore. The small waves moves in, barely touching their feet, then the waters returns into the ocean.

"Being here reminds me of home." Serah leans to the side, resting her head on Snows shoulder. "Of Bodhum."

Snow wraps an arm around Serah, pulling her close to him. "I'll always remember that special night. When I proposed to you."

Serah looks at Snow. "You know...When you did. I was so happy." Snow looks at Serah. "I was so happy, that all of my worries disappeared. About Lightning...About being a l'Cie."

"Hey. What did I tell yea?" Snow asks. "You and me. We'll always be together."

Serah giggles a little then she rests her head on Snows shoulder. The happy couple just sits here for a while.

Half an hour later, the fireworks are going off. Everything stands in all places to view the exploding colors in the air. The pier, pier grounds, the shore, the cliffs. As for me and the others, we're all standing at the furtherest line of the pier. Watching the fireworks. Well, not all of us are. Hope and Lightning aren't around.

"Wow. It's so pretty." Vanille says.

"Yeah. Just like back on Cocoon." Snow says.

Hope arrives, depressed with the flowers in his hands. We all turn to see the kid coming. Serah and Vanille waves at him. "Hey. You're here!" Vanille says.

Hope looks up, trying hard to hide his disappointment. "Hey guys."

"Hope. You made it." Snow says.

"What's with the flowers?" Sazh asked.

Hope looks surprised and nervous. He looks at the roses he's holding. He didn't realize he was still holding them. Serah doesn't look too confused, she knows what they were for.

Hope quickly holds them behind his back. "Uh. Nothing...it's nothing."

"Okay then..." Snow looks around us. "Has anyone seen Light?" We all look around as well.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her since dinner." Vanille says.

"I believe I saw her by the fountain on my way here." Hope says.

We're not really surprised to hear that. "That soldier is always spending her time with that fountain. What gives?" Sazh asks.

"What's wrong with that?" Fang asks. "I often see Patrick and Hope around that fountain."

"Yeah, well that's because we have actual reasons to do so. To talk to our parents." I say. I stand up, making my way across from the group. "I'm gonna go talk to her."

I leave the group. Serah stands up as well. She grabs Hope and pulls him away from the group, just to have a private conversation with him.

"Those flowers. We're they for the girl?" Serah asks.

"Yeah...they were." Hope says.

"Did she turn you down?" Serah asks.

Hope shook his head. "No, not really. I was about to tell her, but I choked, then...our moment got interrupted and she left."

"Oh. I'm sorry about that." Serah says. Serah looks at the flowers. "They are very lovely. I sure she would have loved them."

"Yeah." Hope says. Serah and Hope rejoins with the group to watch the fireworks.

Meanwhile, Lightning is in the Central Plaza, seating on the bench looking up at the statue of the Crystal Pillar of Cocoon. She hardly pays any attention to the fireworks behind her. Over the roaring sounds of the explosion and the faded flashing colors, her mind is else where.

"Hey, Farron!" Lightning jumps a little, she turns to see it's only me. "What's up?"

Lightning relaxes. "Oh. It's only you." Lightning returns her attention to the pillar. "Nothing much."

I sigh, making my way past the bench, standing in front of it and beside Lightning. "Okay, Light. What's up with you?" Lightning doesn't answer my question. Just stays silent. "You've been a little distracted lately. Always coming to this statue or visiting the original Cocoon Pillar. Why is that?"

Lightning still doesn't answer. Soon enough, she sighs. "I don't really know." Lightning crosses her arms and legs, looking down a little. "For the past few months...I just have this feeling inside of me. I just feel empty."

I seat next to Lightning. "You mean you're feeling lonely?"

Lightning slowly shook her head. "No...that's not it." Lightning stands up. She walks in front of the statue, looking up at the pillar. "It's just...I don't know...I guess I'm feeling a little home sick." I raise an eyebrow hearing that. "It's been a whole year already since Cocoon fell, and already, I miss home."

"But. You are home." I stand, walking up until I'm next to Lightning. "Your family is here. Our home is here. We built a new life here on Pulse." I take out a piece of Gil, and toss it into the fountain.

"I know. I know." Lightning turns to face me. "Cocoon is done for and we've made a new home on Gran Pulse. New Bodhum is just like how it was back on Cocoon but...It just doesn't feel the same." Lightning turns, looking down. "I wasn't born and raised here. With Serah...and my parents."

Parents. I know how she's feeling. "Must be hard to replace memories, doesn't it?" I say. Lightning doesn't answer. She just say silent. "Hey, Light. I have something for yea?" Lightning turns, facing me to see I'm holding a small gift box. Lightning seems a bit surprised to see it. "Happy New Year, Light."

Lightning's speechless. She's not flattered. If anything, only curious. Lightning takes the gift box. She opens it to find a diamond hearted necklace. Lightning's surprised to see it. Lightning grabs the chain and holds it out.

"Your mom's necklace?" Lightning asks.

I reach into the neck of my shirt, revealing my necklace. "An exact replica of it." I shove the necklace back into my shirt. "Read what it says on the back." Lightning looks at the necklace. She lays the diamond heart on her palm, turning it on its back to read the small engraving on it. 'Got yr back'. Lightning looks at me. Her expression is her usual look, but in her eyes, she's surprised. "Just my way of showing I trust yea, and thanking for the job."

Lightning sighs a little. "Patrick, you didn't really have to do this."

"Hey, we're partners. It's not like I'm proposing." Lightning looks at me, surprised. She remembers how Snow proposed to Serah with that necklace. I could read her thoughts. I cross my arms, looking disappointed. "I'm not proposing. Get that silly idea out of your head."

"Right. Sorry." Lightning says.

I take the necklace, stand behind Lightning and put it around her necklace. When that's done, Lightning takes a moment to take it in. "Huh...it's...actually not so bad." Lightning turns to face me, offering a small smile. "Thank you, Patrick."

I give a slow nod. "How about we return to the others?"

Lightning agrees, and we head back to the pier.

Meanwhile, Noel is watching the fireworks from a cliff. He just sits there, legs crossed, watching the exploding colors from a distance. Noel thinks back to what Lebreau told him back at the cafe.

_'when you make a wish on a firework, it'll come true'_

"Fireworks that grant wishes, huh?" Noel whispers. Noel thinks carefully for what he wants to wish for. Noel reaches into his pocket. He takes out a white long thin petal flower with a yellow center. Yeul's Flower. Noel holds the flower close to him, and he looks up at the fireworks. "I wish we could be together again, Yeul."

[Flashback]

Noel is riding a red chocobo down the path of the Yaschas Massif. Over 700 years in the past. Noel is on his way to the city, Paddra. Paddra was once a large ancient city where the people lived in peace. Not only that, it's also a well known city for the Farseers, disciples of the Goddess Etro. Noel's friend, Yeul, lives within this city with her guardian, Caius. Yeul is a young lady who is known as a Seeress, a person that wields great wisdom. Some people think the Seeress are descendant of the Goddess: Etro. After her training and studying, she has become a well known leader to the city.

Noel arrives at Paddra, in the area that's later to be known as the Paddraean Archaeopolis. Noel dismounts from his chocobo. He walks down the stairs, entering the city. Noel walks past the towns folk. Few of them greeted Noel, Noel replies with a 'hi' or a wave.

Noel arrives at a large blue teepee tent. This place is where Yeul lives. Noel enters the tent. Yeul's places is quite the set up. Mostly mets, short tables, rugs, glass chimes hanging from the ceiling. Old fashion stuff.

As Noel walks in, a large blade blocks his way. Noel turns to see it's only Caius. "State your business, traveler."

"Caius, it's me." Noel says.

Caius gives Noel a close, squinty eye look. "Me. Who?"

"Knock it off, Caius." Caius turns and Noel looks ahead, to see it's Yeul.

Yeul has green eyes and long dark blue hair, with two long strands that frame her face. She has a lean, petite build. She wears a unique diadem headdress with a semi-transparent veil that partially hides her face, though the veil is barely visible so it's very easy to see her face through it. She wears a white halter-top with an opening in the center and a small crystal above her chest. She wears a short wrap-around pleated white and pastel purple skirt with a fur pelt in the back, along with yellow boots. Her wrists are adorned with numerous bracelets, and she wears armbands on her biceps and beaded necklaces.

Caius retreats his blade. "I'm just doing my job, Yeul." Caius moves aside, sitting on a mat.

Noel approaches to Yeul. Yeul smiles at Noel. "Noel. It's so good to see you. How's training going?"

Noel shrug his shoulders. "Eh, well. Wasn't so bad. Hunted some large beasts. They weren't a challenge, really."

Yeul moves to a short table with a crystal ball in the center. Yeul and Noel take their seats on the mats. "I'm glad to hear training's going well. Listen. I called you here on a serious business." Noel seems curious. "You are aware of Bhunivelze, are you?"

"The Grand Fal'Cie?" Noel asks.

Bhunivelze is the fal'Cie who takes control of all the other fal'Cie. You could say he's a Gran Pulse version of Eden. With his twin sons: Pulse and Lindzel. Yeul nods. "That's right. Ten days ago, Caius has discovered that Bhunivelze is having secret meetings with Lindzel. Whenever Caius encounters with the fal'Cie, he claims that nothing's happening. Ever since that day, he's been real quiet lately. Not a single fal'Cie have been given any orders from him."

"It's all very strange." Caius says. Noel turns to see the man. "We believe that Bhunivelze is up to something. Something bad."

Noel turns back to Yeul. Yeul has her eyes closed, placing her hands on the crystal ball. Yeul is silent and motionless for a moment. After a moment, Yeul opens her eyes. "I can feel Etro's presence. Even the Goddess is suspicious."

"So, what do we do?" Noel asks.

"For now. We lay low." Caius says. "Bhunivelze has requested a summons from Yeul."

"He ask for me to go alone...without Caius." Yeul says.

Noel seems worried. He puts his hands on Yeuls. "Are you going to be okay?"

Yeul smiles and yes. "Of course I will. I have the Goddess and the Maker looking after me." Yeul looks up at Caius. "Caius. While I'm gone. I need you to help Noel complete his training. If anything goes wrong, I'm going to need him."

Caius nods. "As you wish, Yeul."

[Flashback ends]

Noel still looks up at the skies as he thinks back to that moment. Noel sighs, then looks back down at the flower in his hand. "Yeul..." Noel slowly, gently closes his hand. "Where are you?"


	5. New Bodhum part II

A/N: Many things have changed wouldn't you say? I bet you guys are wondering who's the mystery girl Hope's crushing on. Well, we're now on part II, where things are about to get ugly for the town.

Chapter 2: New Bodhum

* * *

The fireworks goes on all night. Everyone shouted the final countdown for midnight to strike, then they all screamed 'Happy New Year'.

Slowly, everyone started to return to their homes. We Heroes of Cocoon were the first. After we got home, we started getting ready for bed. Except for Serah and Snow, who are both sitting on the couch watching a romantic movie.

We all get in comfortable clothes. Lightning: A white sleeveless top and blue pajama pants. Serah: A white T-shirt with pink shorts. Hope: Gray T-shirt with red, dark red plaid pants. Vanille: Pink shirt and light purple silk pants. Snow: Just in his red shirt and his boxers. It disgusts me. Myself: Black T-shirt with red outlines and blue pants. My left arm is bandaged from wrist to elbow, for that area is still scarred from the cuts I use to give myself. Fang is just in a blue robe, same with Sazh but in green.

Lightning is yawning and stretching her arms in the air, as she makes her way to her room, on the third floor. She enters her room. She sits on the chair in front of a mirror on a desk. Lightning takes a brush, does her hair a little bit. Nothing much, just straighten it a little. During her progress, Lightning sees something through her mirror. She stops and turns to her bed, which has the bouquet of flowers Hope had.

"Wha...?" Lightning stands, she walks up to her bed. She stands in front of her bed, arms crossed, looking down at the flowers. "First the necklace...now this?" Lightning doesn't really think the flowers are from me, but feeling a bit concerned about receiving gifts all day, even if it's just two. She picks up the bouquet, searching for a note. she finds the note and reads it. "Thanks for everything. I'm happy to have you in my life. Happy New Years. Hope."

Lightning stares at the note for a moment, then looks back at the roses. The soldier girl was standing still. She never figured Hope would do something like this for her. Then again, she realizes she has done a lot for him while they were l'Cie: Toughening him up, that night in Nautilus, protecting him, comforting the poor boy, taking him in when he lost his father. Plus it's a special night.

Lightning smiles a little, then sniffs the roses. To her, they have a lovely scent. Lightning leaves her room. She goes to Hope's room, which is on the second floor. She looks into his room by the door. Hope is laying on his bed. He's facing away from the door, so it's hard to tell if the kid's asleep.

Just in case, Lightning sneaks up to Hope. When she's right beside him, she can see he's already asleep. She smiles, she admits he looks cute when he's sleeping, like a little kid. Lightning leans in, gives him a kiss on the cheek, then whispers into his ear. "Thanks, Hope. Happy New Year."

Hope smiles a little in his sleep, moans and shifts a little to get comfortable. Lightning gives a silent chuckle, ruffles the boys hair, gently just not to disturb him. She pulls the covers up to his shoulders and then leaves the room. Lightning heads downstairs, to the kitchen. She puts the roses into a vase, fill the vase with water.

When that's done, Lightning heads back to the stairs, by crossing the living room. Serah and Snow spots Lightning. "Hey sis." Lightning turns to see her sister and 'brother'. They both notice the vase of roses. "What's with the flowers?"

Lightning looks at the vase. "Hope gave them to me."

"Oh really?" Serah starts to look surprised. She recognizes those roses from when Hope met up with the group for the fireworks.

Lightning leaves, Serah gets Snow's attention. "Snow. Do you know what that means?" Snow looks confused, he isn't really sure. "Hope is crushing on Lightning."

"What? One bouquet of flowers doesn't mean he's crushing on Lightning." Snow says. "Maybe he's...just being very friendly."

"No, no. Listen. Earlier today, he came to me for advice on..." Serah becomes interrupted by Snow.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold up. Hope went to you...for advice?" Snow asks.

"I know. I was surprised too." Serah says. "Anyways, he told me that he likes a girl, but he doesn't know how to tell her. So I told him to just tell her how he feels, and to bring her flowers too."

Snow stares into space, thinking. He's putting the pieces together: The flowers, the neck rub, going to Serah instead of Lightning for the advice. "It all makes sense now." Snow looks at Serah and smiles. "Hey, if he pulls it off, he could be our brother-in law."

Serah smiles at Snows silly comment.

Later at night, everyone's soundly asleep. Even the fireworks have ended so everyone can get a quiet night for sleep. It's 1:42 AM. The streets are dark and quiet. A soft wind blows. In the street tunnels near the barrier walls, Caius walks in the darkness. He arrives at a small building. He enters the house. It's a control room, the one that keeps the barrier activate.

Caius walks up to the control panels, looking down at it. "Hmm..." He just looks down at the controls. Caius looks ahead. Now he's starting to get this presence feeling. "Why are you here, old friend?"

Noel stands by the door, looking at Caius. "You know why I am. I'm here for you."

Caius rolls his eyes to the side, barely turning his head over his shoulder. "Is that so?" Caius completely turns, facing Noel.

"Caius...what is it you are trying to do? Answer me!" Noel asks.

"Unlike you, Noel, I am trying to find and help Yeul." Caius looks up. "She is still asleep in crystal." Caius raises his hand to his chest level and clinches into a fist. "I can feel it."

"But why are you trying to destroy Pulse? What does that have to do with saving Yeul?" Noel asks.

Caius looks directly back at Noel. "That is none of your concern. But I will find Yeul, and I will free her from her prison of slumber." Caius grabs for his blade, taking it out. "But first. I must deal with those who dares stand in my way."

Caius raises his blade. Noel takes a step back, taking out his dual blades, readying to attack. The both of them are in a stand still for a moment, then Caius yells, and does a quick, heavy turn strike. Smashing his blade on the controls. The control panel shatters, sparks and smoked. Noel is surprised to see that. The barrier in the city begins to vanish, from top to bottom.

The barrier is completely gone. A behemoth slowly creeps out of the shadows from the tunnels outside of the city. The behemoth steps into the moonlight, along with a few beasts, and they all softly growl as they take a look at the defenseless city.

Me and the others are still sleeping in our home. As we rest, a loud siren goes on. The alarm settles me to awake. "I didn't do it!" I shout as I sit up, and then fell out of my bed. "Ow!"

Lightning instantly awakens. Sitting up on her bed. She turns her attention to the window as she hears the siren. Without hesitation, Lightning gets out of bed, grabbing her Gunblade and making it out the door. Lightning by the door of her room, looking all around the hallway. Lightning makes hurry to my room, which is two doors next to hers.

Lightning opens the door. To her disapproval, she finds me on the floor. I start sitting up, Lightning rushes up to me. She grabs my arm and forces me on my feet, hard. "On your feet, soldier!" Lightning says.

When I'm on my feet, I shake my head, getting the sleep off of me. When my senses came too, I can hear the emergency siren going on. "Oh! We're in trouble!"

"No kidding!" Lightning says irritated. "Move it! Move it!"

Lightning zooms out of the door. I quickly grab my bow, quiver of arrows, a pouch and filled it with a few dozen of my throwing stars, then I head out the door. Me and Lightning hurries up on waking everyone up. I took care of everyone on this floor, Fang, Vanille, Sazh and Dajh. Lightning gets everyone on the second, Hope and the NORA gang.

Me and Lightning rushes to Serah and Snow's room on the first floor while waiting for everyone else to be fully awake and to grab their weapons. None of us bother to change clothes, especially since the girls would take forever...well mostly Vanille and Lebreau. I'd say the same with Serah.

Me and Lightning arrive in Serah and Snow's room. They're both sharing a room together. Lightning can hardly accept it, but they are married now, and Serah's an adult now. Serah is sitting on the bed while Snow's still asleep. Serah starts shaking Snow. "Snow! Wake up! There's an emergency!"

Snow just mumbles and turns. Me and Lightning are standing by the bed. Serah looks at us, begging for help. "Hey, you married the oaf." Lightning says.

"I'll get him up." I leave the room. Lightning and Serah watches me leave. Lightning isn't too happy to see me leave, as if I'm really just leaving them to wake up Snow.

Lightning groans and rolls her eyes. Lightning grabs Snow by the collar of his shirt, shaking him violently. "Wake up you big dork!" Snow doesn't wake up.

Lightning releases her grip, letting Snow fall back on the bed. I return with a bowl of ice. Lightning and Serah notices the ice by the time I'm beside them. Before they could say or do anything, I'm pouring the ice down his shirt. As soon as I do, he's yelling and instantly sitting up.

"Cold! Cold!" Snow shouts.

Snow jumps out of bed, running around as the ice cubes pours out of his back, then he crashes into a wall and falls on the ground. The three of us stands and watches Snow on the ground. Serah leans to the side by me. "Was that really necessary?"

"He's awake, isn't he?" I asked.

We quickly get Snow back on his feet. As soon as we do, we all leave the mansion. We all stopped by the gates, in front of the stairs. We all look at the view of the city, which is crawling with monsters and panicing citizens.

"Oh no...this is terrible." Vanille says.

"Yeah. No kidding. It's the Purge all over again." Sazh says.

"How is this happening?" Snow asks.

Hope looks up. "The barrier!" We all look up. "It's been shut down."

We're all surprised to see that. After hearing someone scream and a Behemoth roaring, I look down. Two citizens are running past the fountain. Several Torama's and a Behemoth. Torama's are cat-like creatures with either red or black fur, long tails, sharp fangs and claws and often poisonous.

The creatures all stopped to the fountain. They surround and spread around it, getting ready to attack. "The statue!" I make a rush for it.

"Patrick!" Serah shouts, but that doesn't stop me.

One of the Torama's makes it pounce. I shove my body at it with full force as it leaps towards the statue. The Torama gets knocked back, crashing to the ground. The impact caused me to stagger a little, but I quickly recovered. I turn to see myself surrounded by the Torama's and a Behemoth in front of me. The Torama's pounces at me. I quickly toss my throwing stars at them. The stars hits them in the skull, knocking them out. They're bodies pretty much collapse around me.

I look ahead to see the Behemoth looking at me, growling. "Damn it! He's gonna get himself killed!" Lightning says. Everyone makes a rush for it, gathering around and defending the statue. Lightning and Hope comes to my side, adding me in my battle against the Behemoth.

Lightning rushes towards the Behemoth, striking it. Hope casts his Fire and Blizzard spells. I stay back shooting with Flamestrike. The Behemoth swipes its claws at Lightning, but the soldier girl stays strong. We attack the Behemoth, the beast fights back. Hope switches to Medic, casting Cure on Lightning. Soon enough, we had the Behemoth staggering, then we all shift into Commando, I shoot, Lightning attacks and Hope cast Ruin repeatly at it.

The Behemoth falls, but the battle is far from over. All kinds of creatures: Beasts, Torama's, Stalkers, Spooks, few Wyverns. They're all attacking in all places. "There are too many of them!" Vanille says.

Serah swings her Bowsword at the Beasts that surrounds her and Dajh. They can barely be slashed from the weapon, Serah just swings it at them. The girl clearly still needs some training. One of the beast strikes, knocking the weapon out of Serah's hands. That surprised her.

Serah and Dajh are now in deep trouble, as the beasts creeps closer to them. All of us are too busy fighting to see their situation. When Snow was free from his battles, he looks around until he spots Serah in trouble.

"Serah!" Hearing his call startles me and Lightning. They both turn to see them in trouble.

Sazh also turns to see Dajh in trouble with Serah. "Dajh!"

One of the beasts growls ferociously and pounces. "Serah!" Me and Lightning shouts.

Serah kneels down as she and Dajh turns to each other, huddling in terror. They expect sharp fangs and claws to dig into their flesh, but nothing happens. They slowly look, to see the beast that leaped at them on the ground, dead, with a small blade pierced through it's skull.

Serah is surprised to see that. "What the..." Serah and Dajh both see the rest of the Beasts are still standing, but noticed they have their attention else where, growling softly even.

Serah and Dajh turns, looking up at the rooftop of a building. There, Noel is standing there, looking down at the situation. He's currently holding his large sword. He jumps off the roof and lands right on the ground. He lands on his hand and knees, still looking at monsters. The beasts shifts their positions, lining up in front of Serah, growling at Noel.

The beasts charges, and Noel does as well. The middle beast pounces at Noel. Noel jabs his sword into the beast, killing it. The other two beast pounces at Noel. Noel puts his hands on one of the beasts stomach as it leaps on him, and he tosses it over him. Noel quickly turned to the other Beast pouncing at him, shooting a Ruin spell at it before it even touched the boy. The beast gets knocked back from the magic orb.

Noel turns to see the beast he tossed is getting back on it's claws. Serah and Dajh just sits there, looking surprised. "Who is he?" Dajh asked.

The beast growls and pounces on Noel. Noel blocks the attack with his blade, he jabs his free hand several times in the beasts stomach. The beast releases its grip from the blade, then Noel slashes it. The beast dies, now just one is standing. Noel grabs the small blade impaled to the dead beasts skull. He positions himself to attack, so does the beast.

The beast roars and charges towards Noel. Noel makes his stand, he morphs and merges his blades into a lance, positions himself to strike. The beast runs closer, then leaps towards Noel. Noel jabs his lance through the beast. The beast falls dead in the lance.

Noel removes the corpse from his weapon. He turns his weapon back into dual swords and puts them away. Noel turns to Serah and Dajh, he lends Serah a hand. "You okay?"

"Y...yeah." Serah accepts Noel's hand. Noel helps Serah stand.

We all cleared the monsters around the memorial fountain. Me, Lightning, Snow and Sazh rushes towards Serah and Dajh. Vanille, Hope and Fang followed us from behind.

"Dajh!" Sazh gets down on his knees to hug his son.

"Daddy!" Dajh jumps into Sazh's arms.

"Serah!" Lightning hugs Serah, holding on to her. Me and Snow are beside them. "Serah, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Serah hugs Lightning back. "I'm fine, Light. I'm okay." Serah turns her attention to Noel. "Thanks to him."

We all look directly at Noel. Most of us are suspicious about him. Fang walks up to him, arms crossed. "Well. What do we have here?" Fang is next to Noel. "Guessing by the way you're dressed, you're from here, Gran Pulse."

"That's right. The name's Noel." Noel says.

"You're from Pulse?" Hope says. "I thought Vanille and Fang are the only Gran Pulse survivors?"

"Well, apparently there's another one." Sazh says. "Where'd you come from, sonny?"

"Don't call me sonny." Noel says. "Anyways, I have a few questions for you guys as well."

"Well the questions can wait." We all turn to look at Lightning. "We have a situation that needs handling."

Lightning turns to the hundreds of monsters running around, invading the city. All the citizens panicking in fear. "Lightning's right. We need to save the town." I say. "So, what's the plan, General?"

"We need to split up." Lightning says. "Serah, you and Sazh evacuate the citizens. Get them somewhere safe."

Sazh takes out his guns. "You can count on us, soldier girl!"

Team NORA steps up. "We can help too! We'll help protect the citizens." Gadot says.

"Fine." Lightning says. "Hope, see if you can bring the shield back up."

Hope nods. "Got it."

"Fang. You go with Hope. He can use the protection." Lightning says.

Fang crosses her arms, rolling her eyes. "Great. You assign me to babysit the kid."

Hope seems offended. "Hey!"

Lightning turns to me. "Patrick, I need you in the front lines, Prevent any more monsters from entering the city."

I salute. "Yes ma'am."

Vanille rushes to my side. "Oh! Oh! I wanna help! Take me with you!"

I look at Vanille a bit surprised to hear that, then I turn to Lightning. "Looks like I got a new partner."

"Right." Lightning turns to Noel. "You're coming with me and Snow. We're gonna handle the monsters out here."

Snow pounds his fists together. "All right! It's hero time."

We all went our separate ways. Serah and Sazh now runs down the Central Plaza, gathering all the scared citizens who are running away from the monsters. Serah and Sazh wonders around the Central Plaza, taking out any of the monsters that gets in the way. Serah shifted her weapon into a bow and she and Sazh shoots at them together.

Sazh then shifts into Synergist, applied Bravery and Faith on himself and Serah. When that's done, he returns to Commando and continues shooting at the monsters.

[In game: The goal in this event would be to defeat the monsters that are standing still and having cowered citizens cornered. A total of five groups of citizens at the moment]

Serah and Sazh finds the cowering citizens and and defeats the monsters that have them trapped. With each citizen rescued, one of the NORA members escorts them to the mansion for safety.

Whenever Serah or Sazh were in quite a pickle, Serah would have to shift into Medic and heal their wounds. Fighting the monsters was hard for those two, since Sazh is just an old man who can barely keep up and Serah's still in training to fight. But they're still doing fine handling the situation.

After saving the last group of citizens, Serah and Sazh escorts that group to the mansion. "That's the last of them." Serah says.

A large wyvern soars in. Lebreau notices it. "Serah! Look out!" Lebreau starts shooting at the wyvern. Serah turns to see the monster above them.

"Ah, great. Just what we need." Sazh complains.

There was no time for arguing. Serah and Sazh takes out their weapons, fighting the monster. Sazh shifts into Synergist, giving himself and Serah Bravery and Faith. Serah casts some fire spells at the wyvern.

The wyvern flows down to their level and sweeps it's wings at Serah and Sazh. Sazh shifts into Shaman, doing Flamestrikes at the monster. The wyearn spits a toxic bolt at Sazh. Hurting him badly, and applying Deprotect and Poison on him.

Serah shifts into Medic, casting Cure on Sazh. Sazh used an antidote to cure his poison problem. The wyvern focuses on Serah, then charge bites her, dealing a hell of damage on her. Sazh continues shooting Flamestrikers on the wyvern while Serah's heals herself.

Soon enough, the wyvern enters staggering, then both Sazh and Serah shifts into Commando and shoots at the monster until it's as good as dead.

Serah and Sazh takes a moment to rest up. "Oh man. That was close. I don't know how Lightning does this." Serah says.

"Well, I'd say it's cause she's a highly trained soldier girl." Sazh says.

Serah laughs a little, it is pretty obvious. Then she turns to face the group. "Everything's going to be okay. You'll all be safe here until we get the situation under control."

NORA secures the gates, aiming their guns. Guarding the gates for any monsters that might come in.

Serah and Sazh stays with the citizens too to make sure everyone's all right.

Meanwhile, Fang is waiting outside of the control room, leaning against the building arms crossed. She's just waiting for Hope to do his work to get the barrier back up. She's not pleased. She would much rather be out in the battlefield clearing up the monsters with Lightning. But instead, she's stuck 'babysitting' Hope.

An explosion happens, which startles Fang. She jumps away from the building, her lance out and position to strike. Only smoke comes out of the small house, then Hope comes out coughing, trying to clear the smoke around him.

Fang lets her guard down. "What happened?" Fang asks.

Hope only answers with a few coughs then speaks. "Someone smashed the controls."

Fang isn't too happy to hear that. "Can you fix it, techno wizard?" Fang says with a chuckle in the end.

Hope seems annoyed at Fangs little nickname for him. "It could take hours to repair the control panels, maybe days." Hope says.

Fang groans. "We don't have time for this."

"We don't have to." Hope says. "I've prepared a temporary backup generator back at the ORPHAN station for emergencies."

"Well. What are we waiting for? Let's getting a-moving." Already, Fang walks off.

"W-wait up." Hope says, catching up to Fang.

Fang and Hope come out of the tunnel, into the night. ORPHAN station is just at the other side of town where they are. They would now have to fight their way through the monsters in order to get over there. At least Fang finally gets some fun around here.

They first run into a group of beasts. Fang fights them head on while Hope stays back, casting Banish, smiting enemies with light magic at them. The beasts strikes at Fang. Fang does Blitz, doing a sweep strike with her lance. Two beasts died and the last one falls from Hopes Aero spell.

Fang and Hope continues on, taking down the next wave of monsters, a Megistotherian and three Torama's. Fang focuses on the Megistotherian and Hope takes on the Torama's.

The Torama's were a hard fight for the boy, and The Megistotherian was pretty strong. Fang had to shift into Sentinel and taunt the beasts to her, then she uses Mediguard to defeat herself.

Hope spends his time in battle constantly switching Commando to Medic. Casting his Ruin spells at the creatures while healing up Fang. At one point, he decided to go to Synergist and give Fang protect, saves up time so he can focus on Ruin-ing the enemies. Ha, ha. Good one, Kataang9.

After that battle, Fang and Hope moves on. "Man. This is hard." Hope says. "How did you and Vanille put up with this back in Oerba?"

"You learn to get use to it, kid." Fang says. Fang looks up, she suddenly stops and grabs Hope by the back of his shirt. "Look out!"

Fang runs back as a large Behemoth land right whee they were at. They were nearly squished. Almost remind Hope of that time when he was almost crushed by that giant Adamantortoise.

Fang and Hope ready themselves and attack the Behemoth. Fang shifts into Shaman and does Galestrikes, while Hope casts Fire and Banish. The Behemoth strikes hard at Fang, but she handled it fine. Didn't need Hopes healing or Protect.

The battle goes on until they have the Behemoth staggering, and then they shift into Commando. Fang strikes, the first one making the Behemoth launched into the air, and Hope cast his Ruin spells at it.

The Behemoth falls quickly. Fang and Hope takes a moment to rest. "Thanks for the save." Hope says.

"Was nothing. If I let yea got squished, your friends would have had my hide." Fang says. Hope knows she's not wrong. Me, Snow and Lightning are prtty protective for him. "Let's keep moving."

Fang and Hope moves on in South Winding Way. This area is only crawling with the beasts and some Sahagin's. Fang and Hope made an easy clean cut through these monsters.

In a matter of minutes, they made it to the ORPHAN station. To their luck, the building and everything inside is unharmed.

"We made it." Hope says.

"Good." Fang says, hanging by the door. "Let's just get this over with."

Hope walks right in. "It'll take a moment, so watch my back."

Fang just stands by the station entrance while Hope is in the control room doing his work. Fang can see the monsters rampaging all over town. Some of them aren't even bothering to attack her.

After a couple of minutes of waiting, Hope returns. "It'll take a few minutes for the barrier to power up."

"Thank goodness." Fang says. "Let's return to the others."

Fang and Hope fights their way through the city to head back to the mansion.

Meanwhile, at the front lines, ORPHAN troopers are shooting at the monsters that are charging in. Vanille is standing by in the front line casting her offensive magic.

One of the Megistotherians comes at her. Vanille gasps as she realizes the monster is attacking her. I start shooting my arrows at the Megistotherian before it manage to harm her. The other ORPHAN troopers shoots at the beast until it's dead.

I stand by Vanille. "Stay focused." I tell her. "We need to hold them off until Hope gets that barrier back up."

Vanille nods. "Right."

Vanille takes out her binding rod and we both move ahead of the line, facing the monsters.

[In game: This is a different time based event from ORPHAN Hunter X79. What happens is this event will be that wave of enemies will come in endlessly, getting stronger and tougher with each wave you defeat, and you have to survive the fight until the timer runs out.]

Vanille and I only have five minutes (5:00) to hold off the creatures.

For now, we face three spooks and two beasts. Me and Vanille both shift into Saboteur and weaken their defenses with Deprotect and Deshell. It was done quickly, then I shift into Synergist to apply Haste on myself and Vanille. Vanille shifts into Shaman and does Galestrike. The spooks went down easy, but now we focus on the beasts. One of them attacks Vanille and the other one hits me.

Me and Vanille defeated the beasts, then more monsters come in. A Torama pounces onto me. Vanille shifts into Medic and starts casting Cure on me, then she shifts into Ravager and casts Fire and Aero. I start shooting at the Torama's until one of them dies.

Four minutes (4:00) remains.

Pulsework Knights marches right in. I shift into Shaman and start using Flamestrikes. Vanille helps me out facing the Pulsework Knights. Those robot creatures walks towards us and strikes us. We finally got one staggered, I shift into Commando and start shooting at it while Vanille focus on the other ones. I got the staggered Pulsework destroyed, then I focus on the one Vanille's attack. I shift into Shaman and attacked until it's Staggering, then went Commando and do Ruin spells.

Three minutes (3:00) remains.

The Pulsework Knights are defeated, then a Megistotherian and some slug plants appeared. Oh, now it's getting tougher. I focus using Blitz on the slug plants since they're gathered, while Vanille shifts into Saboteur and casts Deprotect and Deshell on the Meistotherian.

"Hold the line!" I say as I defeat the slug plants.

We now focus on the Megistotherian. Vanille shifts into Shaman and does some Galestrikes. The Megistotherian fights hard on us. Part of the fight, Vanille had to shift into Medic and heal our wounds.

Two minutes (2:00) remains.

Vanille shifts back into Ravager and we finally take down the Megistotherian. Tons of beasts and two Behemoths comes charging in.

"They just keep on coming." Vanille says, slowly backing away.

"Stand your ground! We've got to hold back until the barrier's back up." I say.

I start shooting at the beasts, they all charge towards us. I've manage to kill two of them before they reached us. Vanille casts her Fire and Aero spells at them. All of the beasts gets wiped then the Behemoth attacked us. I shift into Saboteur and cast Deprotect and Deshell at the Behemoth. Then I shift into Shaman doing Flamestrikes.

The Behemoth hurls at me, knocking me in the air. Vanille shifts into Medic to cast Cure on me.

One minute (1:00) remains.

I get back on my feet, and Vanille shifts into Ravager and we attacked the Behemoth. The Behemoth staggers then I shift into Commander and start shooting at it. The Behemoth falls then is replaced with two Behemoths and a Megistotherian. Both me and Vanille shifts into Saboteur and we repeatly cast Deprotect and Deshall on the monsters.

The Behemoths attacks me and the Megistotherian attacks Vanille. Vanille had to shift into Medic and do Cure a couple of times. I shift into Commando and start shooting. The monsters on this wave are strong, Vanille couldn't even get the chance to shift back into Ravager or Shaman.

Time's up.

Me and Vanille are standing in place on the front lines, as the monsters are looking at us growl. The barrier turns on. I look up to see the electrical bubble wave coming down at us.

"The barrier's up! Fall back!" I ordered.

Me, Vanile and the ORPHAN troops hurries back into the city. The monsters charges towards us. The barrier fully protects the city and the Behemoths and Megistotherian ends up bing repelled by it.

Vanille collapses on her butt, panting in exhaustion. "Boy. I'd thought that would never end." She says. I offer Vanille a hand, helping her stand back up. "How do you and Lightning handle situations like this?"

"Years of training." I say. "Well, we should probably get back to the others. They're probably back at the house."

Vanille nods. "Let's go."

All of us are now gathered up by the mansion courtyard...well, not all of us. Lightning, Snow and Noel are still out there, clearing up the Gran Pulse monsters that remain within the city.

Lightning just slashed the Torama, killing it, then push its body away from her. Lightning looks up to see the barrier's up and running.

"The shields are up. Let's finish this!" Lightning says.

Snow and Noel answers back an 'okay' as they fight off the monsters that are attacking them. Noel jabs his thin sword into the beasts throat, and Snow punches the large Megistotherian, causing it to stagger back, until Lightning comes in and shoots at it rapidly until it's as good as dead.

Now Lightning, Snow and Noel runs around the town, finishing off any of the remaining monsters.

Dozens of monsters, in groups, swarm all over town: Town Square, Beachfront and the Winding Way. The Central Plaza, where the memorial fountain is kept, is the only area that's clear.

Lightning, Noel and Snow start off in the Winding Way, where beasts and Toramas are rampaging. They fight off the monsters, Lightning casting Thunder and Banish in her Ravager role, Snow doing Frostrikes in Shaman and Noel attacking as a Commando.

The beasts and Toramas fight back and hard. Snow had to shift to Sentinal and do Steelguard to hold off the beasts, while Lightning shifts to Medic and heals their wounds. When that's done, they shift back into their prevous roles and attacked.

In a matter of minutes, the Winding Way was clear, and now they head for the Beachfront, where it's crawling with Sahagins and Terraquatics. Lightning shifts into Commando and repeatly does her Blitz ability, since all the monsters are gathered. Snow and Noel got the same idea and do it.

The Terraquatics fell quickly, so now the party focuses single targeting the Sahagins. One of the Sahagins screeches at Noel, which dazed him, then it strikes him. Noel shifts into Synergist, casting Protect and Bravery on himself and then Lightning and Snow.

By the time he was done, the Sahagins are defeated, clearing the Beachfront. Now they move onto the Town Square, which has behemoths, Spooks and a Wyvern.

"This looks pretty bad." Snow says.

"When is it ever good?" Noel asks.

"Got me there." Snow says.

Lightning and the boys focus on attacking the tough ones, which are the Behemoth. However, they do end up facing the Spooks as well since they're grouped.

The Behemoths were a hard fight. Noel shifts into Sentinal and holds off the Behemoths with Entrench, while Snow and Lightning are fighting off the monsters. The Behemoths strikes Noel, but the young warrior hardly suffers much damage. When he's done guarding, he counterattacks at the Behemoths.

The Spooks casts offensive magic. Lightning ends up shifting into Medic and cast Cure on herself and Snow and Noel. Then she shifts into Commando and continues attacking.

The Spooks went down and so does one Behemoth. The rest of the Behemoths attack hard. Snow and Lightning fights them off. Lightning hops on one of the Behemoth and stabs her weapon into it. The Behemoth roars in pain, and tries to shake Lightning off of it.

Noel and Snow focuses on the remaining Behemoths that are attacking them. When the one Behemoth settles down, Lightning does a few strikes on its back. For a final strike, she impales her weapon into the Behemoth, ending the beasts life.

Lightning, Noel and Snow finished off the monsters in the area. They stand alone in different places, cautiously look about.

"Is that all of them?" Snow asks.

Just then, a Beast leaps out of no where. Snow turns to see it's pouncing on him, until Lightning shoots, killing it before it could land of Snow. "Yes. That is all of them." Lightning says.

"Good. That's good." Noel says. "What now?"

"We should meet up with the others." Lightning says. "They're probably waiting for us back at the house."

The trio makes their way across the city towards the mansion. They walk up the stairs to find the courtyard packed with people. In the middle, they found Serah and the others.

"Lightning! Snow!" Serah runs to them, she gives Snow the first hug. "You're okay?"

"Of course we are." Snow says. "Heroes never die!"

Lightning just rolls her eyes and sighs at Snows arrogance. Serah turns to Lightning and gives her a hug. When the reunion was done, Lightning makes an announcement.

"All right. The monsters are all taken care of. You may safely return to your homes."

Everyone does what Lightning says and returned to their homes. Now it's just Lightning and the gang. It's pretty quiet, up until a fainted clapping sound happens.

Everyone turns heads, trying to see where the source of the notice is coming from, up until they look up at the mansion, to find Caius standing on the lower roof above the doors, slowly clapping looking down at the former l'Cies.

"I must say, I'm actually quite impressed." Caius stops clapping and drops his hands. "You've handled that situation better then I expected. No wonder everyone respects you."

"Caius." Noel says, bitterly. The rest of the group looks at Noel, surprised to hear that Noel knows the man. "This was your doing?"

"Indeed it is." Caius says. "I see you've made some new friends, Noel. I guess Yeul and I are just no good for you."

"That's not true!" Noel says, offended. "Why are you doing this? Why are you attacking these innocent people?"

"For Yeul, of course." Caius says.

Noel is surprised to hear that for an answer. "That's a lie! THIS isn't what Yeul wants!"

"You might be right, but it is the only way to save her from her own imprisonment." Caius says. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I am needed else where."

Caius summons his l'Cie crystal from his brand, then tosses it into the air. "Farewell."

Caius jumps back high, as he falls to the cliff, he vanishes out of sight. We all look at the direction Caius was at, then we look up at the fainted purple glow in the sky. Dark clouds rolls into a swirling vortex. A large purple summoning circle with a sphere in the middle appears.

It glows brightly, causing us to look away, then the sphere explodes, with an eidolon soaring down at us at high speed. Three feet off the ground, Chaos Bahamut shifts its form into a dragon, and roars at us.

We were surprised to see the eidolon, Fang is the most surprised. "Is that...Bahamut?"

"It looks like it is, but I don't think it's the Bahamut you know." Snow says.

"It's Bahamut all right, but it's one that's infused with Chaos." Noel says.

"Chaotic or not, we're bringing it down!" I say.

Lightning, Snow and Noel faces the Chaos Bahamut. Lightning casts a Ruin spell then attacks head on. Snow casts Blizzard spells while Noel shifts into Synergist and strengths the party with Bravery and Protect.

Chaos Bahamut strikes at Snow with Dragon Claw, striking twice, then knocks the group in the air with Whirlwind, spin striking. Noel shifts into Sentinel and does Entrench. Lightning shifts into Medic and starts healing.

Chaos Bahamut does Whirlwind at Noel, but failed to knock him in the air since he's defending himself, then casts Dark Ignis, shooting a purple flare bolt and explodes on Noel.

Lightning heals Noel, then shifts into Ravager and casts Thunder at Chaos Bahamut. Snow casts his Blizzard spells. Chaos Bahamut does Whirlwind, knocking Lightning and Snow in the air, then does Umbral Vise, two dark energy orbs in its claws and clashes them at the group knocked in the air, then cast Hell's Inferno on Noel, shooting a giant red fire.

Noel shifts into Commando, casts a Ruin spell then strikes at Chaos Bahamut. Snow shifted into Commando and attacks as well. Chaos Bahamut does Dragon Claw at Lightning then casts Ignis on her.

The battle on Chaos Bahamut was rough. In the end, the dark eidolon was defeated.

[Crystalium extended - Stage 3]

Chaos Bahamut roars at us, then the beast flies high in the sky and vanishes. We were all relieved that it's over.

"That was close." Sazh says.

"No kidding." Snow says.

Lightning and I turned to Noel, who's looking at us curious as well. "Now that the worst is over, mind telling us who you are and what you know?" I ask.

"I'll be happy to explain everything I know." Noel says.

"Maybe not right now." The three of us turns to Fang, who's walking right oast us, yawning and stretching. "It's still late and I say we should hit the hay."

"I'm with Fang. All that fight wore me out." Hope says with a yawn.

We all agree and turned in for the rest of the night. Lightning took Noel to one of the guest rooms on the second floor.

At about eight in the morning, we all got dressed up and gathered in the living room. Serah and Lebreau are cooking up some breakfast for us all. While that's happening, Noel explains everything about himself.

Apparently, Noel was once a l'Cie from a long time ago. Before Cocoon was even made. And he wasn't the only one. That man, Caius, and a girl, Yeul, were also l'Cies turned to crystal. We were all surprised to hear all of this.

"How long were you asleep?" Vanille asks.

"I don't know." Noel says.

"Well Cocoon has been around for over 700 years. So maybe it was that long since if was made when you turned the crystal." Hope explains.

"That sounds about right." Noel says in agreement.

"So what's the word on that Caius fella? He doesn't seem very friendly." Sazh asks.

"Caius was Yeuls guardian. Since Yeul was special, she was required to have a bodyguard to protect her." Noel says.

"How is she special?" I ask.

"She's a Seeress. A person that wields great wisdom. Few people believed that they are a descendant of the Goddness, Etro." Noel says.

Snow is surprised to hear that. "Whoa. Are they really?"

"No one knows for sure. But they are known to be worshipers to the Goddess, that's for certain." Noel says.

"So, if you and Caius are looking for Yeul, why are you fighting each other?" Serah asks.

"I wish I knew. I wanted to help and find her, but Caius has different ideas." Noel looks down, hesitating to continue. We all know that means something bad. Then he faces us. "He wants to destroy Pulse."

We're all horrified to hear that. Or in Lightnings case, shocked. "What? Why would he do that?" Fang asks.

"I don't know, I even asked what it would have to do with saving Yeul, but he won't say." Noel says. "Which is why I have to find him, and Yeul."

"We can come with you." Vanille says.

"I'm with Vanille." I say. "Destroying Cocoon is one thing, but if Pulse falls, it'll be the end of everything."

Everyone else agrees with the idea. Noel apprechates it. "All right, now the question is...how do we find Caius?" Sazh asks.

We all put our heads together, thinking. "Well, he's looking for Yeul. So, if we find her, we'll find Caius." Hope says.

"That's genius, kid." Fang says. "So where could she be at?"

"Caius believes she's still asleep in crystal. But she wasn't with us when we awoken. She could be anywhere." Noel says.

We all out our heads together thinking. After a while, I have an idea. "I think I might have a theory on Yeul's location."

So we all prepare ourselves for travel. Just ouside of the mansion, we're standing by the gates, facing the NORA gang and Dajh.

"You guys behave." Snow says.

"We will, boss. Don't worry." Gabot says.

"Look after Dajh, too." Sazh says.

"Don't worry, Mr. Katzroy. He'a in good hands." Lebreau says.

Lightning rolls her eyes and turns. "Doubtful."

After saying our good-byes, we all make our leave. We all mount on Chocobos and Snowflake and make our leave from the village, heading north into the forest hills.

[Flashback]

Noel is facing one-on-one against a Behemoth. Noel is short on breath, and the Behemoth is barely as its last legs. Caius just stands in place, watching the whole thing. This is one of Noels lessons that Caius has given. Caius is training Noel to become stronger like Yeul asked him to do while she's visiting Bhunivelze.

Shouting, Noel charges at the Behemoth. The Behemoth roars and charges back. None of them stopped nor starts running away. They're going all Chicken. They both leap in close range and then Noel makes a powerful strike with his weapons while the Behemoth makes its swipe. Noel dodged the attack just bearly, while his strike hits the Behemoth hard.

Noe lands on his feet while the Behemoth falls dead to the ground. Noel puts away his weapons then signs in relief. "Woo! That was cake."

"I've seen better." Caius says.

Noel turns to look at Caius. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"You are improving well, Noel, but you are still far from achieving your goal." Caius says.

"Whatever. As long as I get it done. Maybe one day, I'll become Yeul's guardian." Noel says.

"Don't set your hopes high, my friend." Caius says.

Caius turns from Noel. "Hey, Caius? Aren't you worried about Yeul? I mean, she's facing Bhunivelze by herself."

Caius turns his head over his shoulder, looking at Noel. "I am concerned about the girl. Yeul might be young and weak, but she's very wise." Caius faces forward. "She can take care of herself."

Noel puts his hands behind his head, resting his head back on his hands. "Yeah...you might be right. I just hope she'll be okay."

Meanwhile, Yeul arrives at the Throne Room of the Paddra catacombs. Bhunivelze's chambers rests deep within the hidden tunnels of Paddra. Yeul walks in the darkness, all calm but concern.

Normally, a person would be nervous and worried entering a dark chamber all alone, but not Yeul. She knows she has the Goddess and the Maker looking out for her.

The room brightens as torches on the walls are lit. Yeul looks ahead, at the large throne where a grand Fal'Cie seats upon.

"Hello, my child."

Bhunivelze.


	6. Etro's Temple

A/N: Caius's attack on New Bodhum was pretty neat, huh? Can you guys imagine playing our heroes in their pajamas in the game. That'll be something wouldn't it? Let's see where the story takes place next.

Chapter 3: Etro's Temple

* * *

We all ride our chocobos, heading north into the woods on the hill. Noel can almost see where it is we are heading. By late afternoon, we have arrived at our destination. It's a large temple surrounded by cliffs circling around it. The only opening there is by those cliffs are the gates.

I hop off of Snowflake and the others dismounts from their Chocobos. "What is this place?" Snow asks.

Noel steps forward. "I remember this place...this is Etro's Temple." Noel says.

"A temple?" Vanille asks.

"It's like the Cathedrals we had back on Cocoon. Only instead of worshiping the Maker, people come here to Worship the Goddess." I say. "Since this Yeul person is a Seeress, I figured her crystal body is here."

"That's brilliant, I can't believe I didn't think of it." Noel says.

"Yeah? Well, let's hope Caius doesn't either." Sazh says.

"Hey, guys?" We all turn to Fang, whos shaking the gates to open. But it's chained shut. "How do you propose we get in there?"

We all think for a moment, except for Sazh, who looks at a different direction. Something has caught his attention and he heads for it.

"Maybe we can climb over the gates." Snow says.

"Not a chance, unless you were get sliced." Fang says, noticing the sharp metal arrows at the top of the gates.

"Climb the walls?" Snow asks.

"That could take hours." Lightning says. Looking at the large cliffs.

I look at Snow, arms crossed. "Are you even using your brain, or whatever is inside that thick head of yours?"

Serah stands in front of me. "Hey. Don't talk to Snow like that. Can't you just get along with him?"

"I'm letting him marry you. That's as generous as I can be." I say.

Snow moves Serah aside, getting in my head. "Listen, man. I know you're still upset about what I've done in the past, but it's over."

"Hey guys!" We all are on alert. The voice we heard was Sazh, but we notice he's gone. We look at the direction where the voice came from. We walk to the edge of a hill, looking down by twenty feet to see Sazh failing to left a large stone wedged into the cliff wall. Sazh looks up at us. "A little help?"

Snow and Fang slides down the hill. When they reach the bottom, we all slide down as well, and Fang and Snow gives Sazh a hand at removing the large stone.

Hidden stairs are revealed from behind the stone. We all stand by, looking in. "Oh yeah. The secret passage. I forgot about it." Noel says.

We could only see a few feet, the rest of covered in darkness. "So...who's gonna go first?" Hope asks.

We all shout 'Not it!' All except for Lightning. We all look at her, Lightning looks at the rest of us, then sighs in irritation. "Fine."

Lightning goes in first, then me, then Vanille, then Hope then...well, the rest. In the darkness, we couldn't see. I manage to find a big torch. I hold on to it, Vanille lights it up with a Fire spell, then I hand it to Lightning.

The stairs was long. We reach to the bottom and stopped to take a look. The torch shows the tunnels to be clear so far.

Vanille moves to the front of the group. "Hey. It doesn't look so bad."

Noel thinks for a moment. "Hmm...There's something about these tunnels..." Noel scratches his head. "What was it?"

Vanille takes a step forward. The ground her foot stands on sinks in, a hidden trigger, then out of no where an axe bolted in front of Vanille. It startled the poor girl, she screamed and jumped into my arms. I was also a bit surprised when she jumped.

The axe swings back then hangs to the side by the wall. "Oh right. There's booby traps." Noel says.

"Thanks for the tip, captain obvious." I say, then I drop Vanille to the ground, the girl lets out an 'ow!'.

"Why would this place be booby trapped?" Fang asks.

"Thieves and Bandits would try to break in and steal from the temple." Noel says. "The gates are locked, and there are traps in this tunnels incase they find the hidden entrance."

"Makes sense. I'd say that's pretty clever." Sazh says.

"Maybe so, of course that means we'll have to watch our step." Lightning says.

Snow move ahead. "Well no trap's gonna get me."

Snow triggers a tight thin string, then a dart shoots him right in the neck. Snow quickly noticed it and remove the small dart. As soon as he did, he instantly collapse on the ground. Serah and Vanille are shocked. I on the other hand gave Snow two loud 'Ha's'. "Ha! Ha!"

"Snow!" They both rush to Snows sides. Serah grabs his wrist. "You okay?"

"I can't feel anything." Snow says.

Lightning stands behind Serah, arms crossed looking down at Snow in disappointment. "No trap's gonna get yea, huh?"

Fang picks up the dart, examining it. "It looks like it could be Torama Vemon. Snow's been paralyzed."

Vanille gets an idea. "Oh!" Then she reaches into her pouch hanging from her belt. "I have just the thing for this."

Vanille takes out a small bottle, that which contains an antidote for paralysis. Nurse Vanille to the rescue. Vanille helps Snow drink the antidote. His fingers twitch from the start but then he regains feeling all over his body.

"There we go." Serah and Vanille helps Snow stand, slowly, up. "Just take it easy. This antidote might give you some muscle spasms. You won't know when you're gonna-" Out of no where, Snow jerks his feet into Vanilles shin, kicking her. Serah was shocked to see that. Snow, worried. Vanille grabs hold of her kicked leg. "Ow. Ow. Ow...Do that."

We all looked at Snow, just giving him a look mixed with awkward and worry, then we all take one big step backwards from him.

"Okay, okay. I get it." Snow says. "Don't worry, I think I can control it."

I turn my attention to everyone. "If we're done playing around, we should get moving."

Lightning agrees, and reminds everyone to watch out for more traps.

We all move on ahead in the Catacombs. We had to be on high alert for any booby traps. There were some wide areas that were safe from traps, but not safe from monsters. The tunnels was filled with Cie'th. Stambling, Winged, those disembodied arms Cie'th. We all wondered what the Cie'th is doing, but we figured it could have been those that worshipped Etro or perhaps the guards that became l'Cie.

This temple sure has gone down hill.

We're only about fifty feet away from the exit, only killed about forty of those Cie'th. We all had to keep our distance from Snow since he's uncontrollably swinging his arms around. It's the muscle spasms.

The booby traps we've pasted was all darts shooting, rocks falling down, weapons swinging by. The one I disapproved of was a hidden deep pit where there were spikes on that bottom. Thank goodness none of us fall into it. Not so much on Snow cause he didn't fall in.

We arrived at the next area of the catacombs, Maw of the Abyss, the northern path of the area (Where there's usually the dead end in the first game). We recgonize this area, it's part of the Mah'habara Subterra zone we took to get to Obera.

"Hey. Does this area ring any bells to anyone?" Snow asks.

Noel steps forward in front of the group. "It doesn't to me. I don't remember this being part of the Catacombs."

"Maybe it wasn't when you were around." Fang says. "The Fal'Cie must have been carving tunnels in here while you were asleep."

"It's possible." I say, looking around up until some Bombs and Pulsework Knights approaches right in front of me. "Looks like we've got unwanted company."

Lightning and the others joins me on the fight and we take on the enemies. Vanille, Hope and Snow focuses on the Pulsework Knights in their Ravager Role, while me and Noel are in Synergist to strength the party, the rest just attacks in Commando.

Taking out the Bombs was a snap, the Pulsework Knights where a long work since we had to wait for them to reach the staggered point to attack them Commando style.

When they're defeated, we put away our weapons and move on ahead. The path in the Mah'habara Subterra was a little quiet, mostly cause we're not hearing that Atomos Fal'Cie digging around.

We walk to the Earthworks then arrived at Twilit Caverns. "Now this looks familiar." Vanille says.

"Should be. We were here on our first time on this world." I say.

"It is pretty obvious." Fang says, arms crossed.

Hope looks to the southern area of the Twilit Caverns. "What about over there?"

We all looked at the direction Hope's pointing. There's a bridge that's leading to a tunnel ahead. We all stand in front of the bridge, wondering.

"What that there before?" Snow asks.

"Not that I can recall." Sazh says.

"Maybe it leads to the temple?" Vanille wonders.

"Only one way to find out." Fang says, taking the lead.

We all take the path walking through the Abandoned Dig. The area here has crystals of red and purple colors on the edges by the walls. The monsters here are tough as well, mindless Cie'th known as the Strigoi and those Daemon's Yakshini's and Yaksha's.

The path we take in the Abandoned Dig ends up with a split, so we take the left path. Moving further, we also ran into a split so we decided to split into two groups to see which is the right way. Only in the end, it turns out they lead to the same area. How delightful.

We reach to the end of the path, which just has a platform in a middle of a wide cavern. We do notice there's a brige going upwards at the end of the platform towards a tunnel above, so we take that bridge in hope it'll lead use to the temple. We reach to the top only to end up sliding down. The path in this tunnel was a hill. We all scream as we slide down, Vanille's was more like screams of joy, laughing and waving he arms in the air. What a child...

We made it to the bottom, but there was no ground so we end up falling about ten feet. Luckily our impact was soft dirt inside of hard rusted metal or deadly spikes.

Lightning stands up, wiping the dirt off of her. "Well that was nuts."

Vanille stands up. "That was fun! Let's go again!"

Noel looks at Vanille when she said that, as he and I stand up. "Is she always like this?"

"Unfortunately, yes." I say.

When everyone else is standing, we all gather. The area we're in is the Lost Maze. We're surrounded by walls on our sides with only a single path ahead. On the walls are torches to light the path.

"Noel, are we still on the path to the Temple?" Serah asks with concern.

"Yes, I remember. This area is another booby trap." We're all not very pleased to hear that. "The whole room is a maze. A very tricky one to confuse intruders. They mostly end up getting lost and die."

"Great. Sounds charming." Fang says. "Please tell us you remember a way out of here."

"I'm not exactly sure." We all groan in disappointment hearing that, with our upper bodies dropping down. "I mean, I remember the first few patterns of the path, only I can't remember where the exit's at."

I stand up straight. "Well, every little bit helps I guess. Lead the way, Pulsian boy." Noel leads the way. Everyone else follows. I stay behind for I'm getting an uncomfortable look from Fang. "What?"

Fang walks ahead, arms crossed. "Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it honey."

"Well you stop calling me that!?" I shout, rushing ahead to catch up to the group.

We all follow Noel through this giant maze. Even if he knows the way, we're all still a bit uncomfortable with his directions. At least some fun is around here, cause there are Cie'th wondering down the mazes.

I wonder if they're l'Cies that got lost. No matter, we fight out way through them. After about ten minutes of wondering, Noel no longer knows the way. From the looks of it, we're probably in the middle of the whole maze. We decided to split into groups of three.

Lightning and Serah

Me, Snow, Noel and Sazh

Fang, Vanille and Hope

We're all just hoping we'll be able to regroup together. I'd hate for few of us to find the exit while the others are still trapped.

While Lightning and Serah are wondering, Serah starts up a conversation.

"So...Lightning. Those flowers Hope gave you?" Lightning looks at her sister, a bit uncomfortable even. "Why did he gave them to you? Did he say?"

Lightning looks ahead as she thinks. "Not really. He didn't personally give them to me, just left them on my bed with a note."

"Did the note...say anything?" Serah asks, which is starting to make Lightning supicious.

"Just thanking me for everything and that he's happy to be with me. That's all." Lightning says.

Serah stops in front of Lightning. "That's all? You saying it's not a big deal?"

Lightning puts a hand on her hip, putting all her weight on one foot while looking at her sister. "Serah? Do you know something about this?"

"Lightning. Hope has a crush on you!" Serah just spoils it out.

Lightnin widens her eyes open hearing that. "What? What gave you a silly idea like that?"

"Isn't obvious?" Serah asks. "He's always with you."

"We're just close friends and I did adopt him when he became an orphan." Lightning says.

"He gave you that neck rub." Serah points out.

Lightning tilts her head to the side, reaching her hand to the back of her neck and slightly rubbing it. "He's...well, just trying to help me relax. I had a stressful day."

"Then he came to me for advice..." Hearing that defiantly surprised Lightning.

"Wait. He went to you for help?" Even Lightning knows it's usually her he goes to for help with anything.

"I know. I'm just as surprised as you are." Serah says. "He told me he's crushing on a girl and he wants to impress her. So I told him to tell her and give her flowers."

Lightning starts to have doubts about Serahs ideas, but then thinks for a moment. She puts the pieces together. And the part about going to Serah for advice, it made her think. Did he really go to Serah cause he really is crushing on Lightning? He could have gone to Fang or Vanille. Then again. Maybe not Fang cause...well, we all know how she is, even with romance. But also, Serah is Lightning's sister, no one else knows her better then her own sister.

"Oh my. You're right." Lightning looks at her sister. "Hope is...crushing on me."

Serah smiles and claps her hands together. "I know. Isn't it great?"

"Wha-" Lightning shook her head. "No! it is not!"

Serah's smile disappears hearing that. "Why not? He's a great kid."

"And that's it!" Lightning says. "Well, not the great part, the kid part. He's too young for me!"

"Oh, Lightning. Age doesn't matter. Snow is older then me and we're together." Serah says.

"Don't remind me." Lightning says, putting a hand on her stomach, sounding and looking like she's about to hurl. "But it doesn't matter. He's seven years younger then me. He's too young for me. Besides, I'm not into relationships."

Serah crosses her arms. "Honestly, you sound more like Patrick everyday. You two are spending to much time together."

"We work together in ORPHAN. There's nothing wrong with that." Lightning moves on ahead, then Serah follows her from behind.

In another part of the maze, Noel is fighting off a Stambling Cie'th. He blocks the monsters attack with his large sword then stabs it with the small one. The Cie'th dies and its body falls.

Sazh, Snow and I are standing from behind, just watching Noel. "You've got some skills, man." Sazh says.

"It's pretty impressive, I'll say." I say. "But I'd like to see you take on Lightning or Fang."

Noel puts away his weapons. "Hmm. Maybe later."

Suddenly, Snow slaps me right in the face. Realizing that, he looks at me with worry. I rub my jaw and glared at him, then I punched him right in the face so hard, he fell on the ground.

"Ow!" Snow sits right up. "Hey! It wasn't my fault. It was the muscle spasms."

"I know!" I said to Snow, then move on ahead.

Sazh and Noel watches me leave. "Is he always like that?" Noel asks.

"Only with Snow. Word of advice, don't become Snow." Sazh warns Noel.

"Noted." Noel replies.

We all keep on walking. As we do, the ground I stand on falls in and I fell into the hole. The others were surprised to see that.

Lightning and Serah keeps on walking. They suddenly stopped when they hear screaming. Lightning takes out her weapon, ready to strike in case it's an enemy, then her guard drops when I fall in front of them.

"Patrick?" Lightning and Serah asks.

I looked at the girls surprised. "Lightning? Serah?" Serah grabs my hands, helps me stand back up. Constantly, I look up, down on the ground, at the girls. "What the? How the? I just." I am very lost at what just happened, then I speak normally when I face them. "By any chance, did you two walk down a pair of stairs?"

"Ever since we split up? Not a chance." Lightning says.

"Okay! Now that doesn't make any sense!" I look up to the ceilling. "I fell DOWN! How the hell did I end up HERE?"

"Did you go up a pair of stairs?" Serah asks.

"Ever since we split up? Not a chance." I say.

"Okay, now that defiantly doesn't make any sense." Serah says.

"This maze probably has all kinds of tricks. Let's just get out of here." Lightning walks past me, taking the lead. Me and Serah follows her from behind.

Vanille is skipping around in one path of the maze, while Hope and Fang are following her from behind. Hope couldn't take his eyes off of Vanille, he admires her free-spirited energy.

"This is fun!" Vanille says.

Hope laughs a bit, which earned Fangs attention. "Just what is so funny?"

Even if her tone is barely showing it, the comment sounded a bit hostile. "What? N-nothing. It's just...I just think it's funny when she's...you know." Hope gesters his hands at Vanille.

Fang gets what he is saying. "You got a problem with that, love?"

"N-no. I was just saying. I think Vanilles funny and I..." Hope suddenly feels nervous. Now he's trying to be careful with what to say. "I...I-I, uh." He rubs the back of his neck nervously.

"Hmph." Fang faces forward. "Whatever."

Fang keeps on moving while Hope stays behind. The kid speaks to himself. "Why is it I'm always in hot water with Fang? I'm starting to feel like Snow against Patick or Lightning."

Lightning, Serah and I run into some trouble with some Cie'th. Lightning faces them headon on the front lines while me and Serah are staying back shooting at them. Lightning parries their attacks. Serah and I focus on the Winged Cie'th that's flying towards us.

We defeated the Cie'th. I sigh tiresome. "Man, this maze is difficult. I wonder if the others are having any better luck."

"Who knows, maybe they'll-" Lightning gets cut off as she falls into a trap door. Serah and I noticed her disappeared and are concern.

"Lightning?"

Snow, Noel and Sazh are still walking. Snow is taking the lead while Noel and Sazh are close behind him. Sazh is a bit edgey after my little trip to the trap door.

"There must be some way out here." Sazh says. "You sure you don't remember anything, boy?"

"I'm wrecking my brain here." Noel says.

Sazh groans tiresome. "Man, I'm just too old for this...sure hope Patrick and the others are okay. Hey, you know anything about that trap door he fell into?"

"I told yea. This place is full of booby traps." Noel says.

"Yes, but where does the door lead him to?" Sazh asks.

Before Noel could speak, they heard something crashing onto Snow and the big guy falls. Sazh and Noel looks ahead to see Snow on the ground, with Lightning on top of him.

Lightning gets up first, she looks at Noel and Sazh and becomes surprised. "What? ..." She looks up. "I fell down, how did..." She takes a brief moment of silence, then rubs her head standing with all of her weight on her right leg. "Guess I know what Patrick was talking about."

"Guess that answers my question." Sazh says. "Nice of you to drop on by." Sazh chuckles at his little joke. Lightning just gives Sazh a mean look, feeling offended. Sazh realizes he's on thin ice and clears his throat. "Uh...you know what? Forget I said that. So, what's up?"

"You tell me." Lightning looks up. "I was with Serah and Patrick until I fell into some trapped door."

Snow stands up. "So Patrick was with you. Guess he's all right then."

Fang, Hope and Vanille are still walking. When they make a turn, they arrrived at the end of their path.

"Dead end, huh?" Fang wonders.

"Should we turn around?" Vanille asks.

Fang walks to a wall and leaned against it with her hand. "Mightest well..." The piece of the wall Fangs hand rests on seeps in, which startles the trio. The wall seeps in then slides open, revealing a passage.

"A hidden passage?" Vanille says.

"Careful, it could be a trap." Hope says.

Vanille takes a peek in the passage, nothing happens so she walks right in. Vanille looks side to side until she notices someone walking down one path.

"Heeeey!" Me and Serah are surprised to hear Vanille. We can both see she's there, then Hope and Fang comes within sight. Vanille approaches to us. "Glad to see you two."

"Same here." I say, confused. "Where did you guys come from?"

"We found some secret door." Fang says, moving to the side showing us the door.

I look inside seeing the one single angled path. "First trapped doors that drops us at a different area on this floor and now hidden doors? What the hell is going on here?"

"Trapped doors?" Hope asks.

"He fell into one and then Lightning did as well." Serah says.

Vanille gasps in worry. "Is she all right?"

"Possibly, since I wind up here." I look around us. "Seeing as she's not with you guys, maybe she's with the others."

"I think we should be more worried at trying to find our exit!" Fang suggests.

"Fang's right. Are you two having any luck?" Hope says.

"What do you think, kid?" I say with a tone that means the answer is quite obvious. Then I look to the side stroking my chin. "All though...I do have a theory."

"And what's that?" Serah asks.

"This maze is full of hidden traps and now hidden doors. Maybe the exit is hidden to throw off the intruders." I walk towards one of the torches, looking up at it. "I wonder if..."

I grab the torch and attempt to pull the whole thing down. It's stuck there like iron. "Looks like that theory's dead." Fang says with a chuckle.

I really wish she would dial down with the sass. "I'm just getting started, give me a minute." I move on to the next torch, pulling it down. Nothing.

This goes on for the next thirty torches. I moved far ahead, everyone else starts following me. I start to get a bit irritated at not finding the hidden exit. On the fourty-fourth torch, it pulls down with a 'click' noise.

A hidden door opens, only it wasn't the exit we were looking for. We turn to see another hidden passage opens. Only Snow sticks his head out of it, looking around.

"Snow!" Serah says happily.

Snow looks to see his wife. "Serah!"

They run towards each other, meeting halfway to hug and kiss. I gagged seeing the kiss part. Shortly afterwards, Lightning, Sazh then Noel joins the party.

"Hey, look at that. All together again." Sazh says.

"Yeah, but we're still stuck in this maze." Fang looks directly at me, fists on her hips and leaning in close to my face. "Thanks to mr. theory here."

"Oh, I like to see you do better, Fang." I throw at her. I move away from Fang then lean against the wall on my back.

"Gladly." Fang says.

The group moves on ahead, leaving me behind. Vanille shortly stops to see a crack on the wall. "Hey, guys." Everyone stops to look back at Vanille. "Look at this."

Everyone gathers behind Vanille, seeing the cracked wall in disapproval. "Really? A broken wall? We don't have time for this foolishness." Lightning says.

Noel however seems suspicious. "Wait a minute..."

Noel faces the crack, he looks at it carefully. Everyone else wonders why he's so interested in a broken wall. Noel then puts his hand in it, feeling something until he pushes some button.

Sudden, the wall I lean aganst slides open, upwards, and I fall back on the ground. Everyone else looks at me and notices I have fallen. They all stand in front of me, in front of the hidden exit.

I raise a hand. "Found it..."

"Huh, looks like Patrick was right." Fang says.

Everyone walks into the passage tunnel. I get back on my feet and follow them from behind.

"Nice to be out of that maze." Sazh says.

"Good radiance to it, I say." I say.

We journey through the Darkmoon Caverns, which is a tunnel field with crystals glowing in night colors. At least we won't need the torch to light out path this time.

"Oh! It's so pretty." Vanille says.

"It sure is. I've never seen anything like this." Serah says.

The scenery may seem peaceful for the two girls, but the travel isn't for any of us. We all get attacked by some Cie'th and some bats. The bats were no challenge, but they are annoying when they screeched, dazed half of the group.

We took out the bats first. One cause they're easy prey and two cause they're annoying. Then we focus out attacks on the Cie'th. Their attacks become vicious. Snow had to shift into Sentinel and Vanille into Medic to help out the party.

The Cie'th went down easily, then continue on.

"How close are we to the temple surface?" I ask.

"We're probably not to far, I guess." Noel says.

The Darkmoon Caverns was a long travel. Serah and Vanille actually savored every moment cause of the beautiful night colors glowing from the crystals on the walls. It's a nice scenery I'll admit, but the monsters we had to deal with doesn't change anything.

After half an hour of traveling, and nearly three dozen of battles with the monsters, we made it to the end of the tunnel. We're now on some cliff inside a large waterfall cavern. It's pretty much a dead end from here.

"End of the line?" Snow asks.

"I don't think so. There use to be a bridge." Noel looks head, pointing at the direction. "Over there." We notice another cliff on the other end of the caverns leading a tunnel.

"Is there anyway through?" Sazh asks.

Lightning turns to me arms crossed. "You got any ideas?" I look at Lightning. "You did say 'There are no dead ends'."

Lightning speaks her quote in a deep voice that's suppose to resamble a boy. "Okay, I do not talk like that." I face forward. "But that is true...maybe we could..." I think hard for an idea, then I got one. "Ah-ha! Bingo."

I take out my rope from one of my pouches. I tie one end to a pillar beside us, tying the other end to one of my arrows. I stand on the edge, my bow loaded and aiming straight ahead then I fire.

The arrow pierces on the small cliff at the end. I give a small pull, making sure the arrow's well in place. Once it is I turn to the rest of the group.

"We're good to cross. But to be on the safe side, we should only go one at a time." I say.

Vanille raises her hand with no hesitation. "I'll go first!" She jumps on the rope, walking upon it. Me, Sazh, Snow, Hope, Serah and Noel are surprised to see Vanille doing this. Walking on a tight rope like it was nothing. Don't know why Lightning and Fang aren't speechless, maybe cause for Fang she's seen Vanille doing this enough times. I got nothing on Lightning. If anything, just not impressed.

Once Vanille made it to the end, Snow was next. At first, he walks on the rope with complete loss of balance. After about three steps, he falls and ends up hanging by his hands.

"Damn. Vanille makes it look so easy." Snow says, continuing down by grabbing hand by hand.

Once Snow is across, Hope was next, then Fang then Serah then Lightning, Noel, Sazh then lastly me.

Once I made it across I remove the arrow from the earthern ground we stand on. I take out a throwing star then throw it directly at the other end of the rope, cutting it clean.

I start gathering up the rope as the other end dangles into the cavern pit. "Nice shot. I've never seen anyone made a clear shot from a hundred yards." Noel says.

"An Archer must have a keen eye, my friend. If you never miss, you'll never fail." I say.

Once I'm done, we continue on ahead. The path is clear, no booby traps thank goodness. But as we keep on moving, the tunnel turns into an underground crypt. A large abandoned area with corpses everywhere.

"Is anyone else starting to get a chill feeling down their spine?" Sazh asks.

"I am. This place does look kind of scary." Serah says.

There are however Cie'th, the Vampires, and Pulsework Gladiators in our way. The good thing is that they're fighting each other, so that makes our job easy.

But that was the only group we have encountered. We fought our way through several groups. Mostly Cie'th, Pulse droids, Dirty blobs, Skeletons, Sprooks and Bombs. I don't even know how the skeletons are alive, that's kind of creepy. It's like they're tainted with black magic.

After fifteen fights, we finally reached to the end of the tunnel. At the end, it's a dead end with stairs. Since there are stairs at the end of the path, we can pretty much tell that means there's a hidden door. Judging by the angle that the top of the stairs stops at the very top of the ceilling, the door is right above us.

Noel lifts the ceiling right above the stairs, which is actually a stone wall, and lifts it aside. Noel sticks his head out of the crypt entrance to take a look. He goes out in the open and the rest of us follows him soon afterwards.

"We're here." Noel says.

Right in front of us is the large temple of the Goddess Etro. "Looks kind of...gloomy." Snow says.

"Well, no one's been on Gran Pulse for hundreds of years. Figured the place might have been abandoned." Sazh says. He does have a point.

Noel turns his attention to me. "You really think Yeul could be in there?"

"Only one way to find out." I say walking towards the temple.

We all enter Etro's Temple. The place isn't as gloomy as it is on the outside, but it does look pretty abandoned. Cobwebs everywhere, piles of rubble all over the floor, holes on walls and ceiling, few pillars broken. If anything, the temple is nearly like the Cathedral's we had on Cocoon and now in Luxerion, the only thing that's missing is the cross the represents the Makers son, the Savior.

"Wow! This place is huge!" Vanille says. Her words echo through the empty temple which proofs her point of the place being huge.

"Well, at least we're the only ones here." I say.

Just then, loud screeching happens. We were all startled. The Cie'th, Two Weavers who are the Unusual Cie'th and three Ghouls and a Vampire, comes out of hiding. We're all startled by the Cie'ths appearance.

"The universe just wants to prove me wrong, doesn't it?" I ask.

"You make it too easy!" Fang says.

We all attack the mindless Cie'th. We all shift into Ravager/Shaman and attack the Weavers while Fang holds off the Ghoul's in her Sentinel role. Unusual Cie'th are the most annoying cause of their barriers. We focus on one of the Weavers, until we got it staggering which removes the barrier, then we all turn Commando, except for Vanille of course. Lightning, Snow, Noel attacks while Me, Serah and Sazh shoots and Hope repeatly casts Ruin.

The one Weaver gets defeated and we all repeat this method for the second one. Upon it's defeat, Fang shifts into Saboteur and cast Slow on the Ghoul's. Me, Snow and Lightning shift into Commando attacking the Cie'th.

We all defeat the Cie'th. "Guess there are mindless Cie'th here too." Sazh says.

"Hopefully they're not the Seeress." Vanille says.

"Even so, it's probably for the best we finish them. They wouldn't want to wonder as mindless Cie'th." I say.

We search all over this room of the temple. There's no sign of Yeul's crystal body, but we don't give up. We notice a pair of stairs right behind the large crystal throne that's at the one end of the temple. I get an idea that Yeul is somewhere up there.

"We can't go up there." Noel says.

"Why not?" Hope asks.

"Only a Seeress is allowed to go up there. Even Yeul couldn't allow me to go up there." Noel says.

"Well, we don't have much of a choice. So I don't think we're hurting anything." Snow says.

"Yeah, we wouldn't." I cross my arms, glaring at Snow. "I make no promises about you."

"Oh leave him alone, Patrick. Besides, we'll all be careful." Serah says.

Noel isn't comfortable, but he allowed us to go up the stairs. The stairs are a long spiral stair case. It goes up for about what feels like ten floors. We must be arriving at the room that's right above the temple room.

We arrive in the Seeress Study, which is a room as wide as the temple below but the height is only about three floors tall. There's also a large model of Etro's Gate at the end of the room, and a large hole on the ceiling.

"Wow." Vanille says.

Hope notices the tablets laying around. I turn my attention to the ancient writing on the walls. "What's all this?"

Noel walks up next to me. "It's Seer. The language of the Goddess. Only a Seeress can read this."

Lightning walks up to us. "Do you understand this?"

"Well...Yeul taught me a little, but I can't make out much." Noel says. Noel focuses his attention hard on the writings on the wall. He speaks with long pauses in between each word or sentence, clearing trying to understand the saying of the words. "Yeul...The Seeress...Branded into a l'Cie...A Focus going against the Goddess and...Ba-ba..." Noel gets a close look at the one inscription. "Bhun...ah...Bhunivelze..."

Me and Lightning looks closely at the one inscription. "Bhunivelze? ...Why does that name sound familiar?" Lightning asks.

I turn my attention to something else. "Hey, look at this." Lightning and Noel looks at the pictures I'm pointing at. Three l'Cie brands. One is the brand of Cocoon l'Cie. The other is a Pulse l'Cie. And the one on top between the two is the mark of PSICOM.

"L'Cie markings...and the mark of PSICOM." Lightning says.

Noel stares at the PSICOM mark. "Bhunivelze..."

"Beg your pardon?" I ask.

Noel points at the mark. "That's the brand...of Bhunivelze."

"That's the brand of Bhunivelze?" Lightning asks.

I turn my attention to Noel. "Noel? You know anything about this Bhunivelze character?"

"He was around before we all turned to crystal. He was the Grand Fal'Cie himself." Noel says. "But...something happened to him. I don't really remember."

"But why are PSICOM using this brand as their symbol?" Lightning asks. She looks directly at me. "You don't think they're working for this Fal'Cie do you?"

"It's very strange, Farron...very strange indeed." I say.

Hope is looking at the tablets. Sazh walks up to Hope. "Got your eye on something, kiddo?"

Hope looks up over his shoulder at Sazh. "Yeah. I was thinking these tablets might tell us something about the Seeress."

Hope gathers some of the tablets. Since they're big, he had to get Snow's help carrying them. Up on the roof, a large damaged PSICOM weapon crawls towards the hole. We all just spread out in groups wondering around. Yeul's crystalized body isn't anywhere to be found here.

Sazh is standing all alone in the center of the room. Suddenly, his chocobo chick pops out of his afro. Sazh rolls his eyes up. "Hmm? What's wrong little fella?" A shadow casts over Sazh, which surprises the man. He looks up and stutters while backing up. "Whoa! Wh-whoa! Whoa! Trouble aboard!"

We all look at Sazh, when we are become astonished when the large damaged war machine crashes right in. "You again!?" Both me and Lightning say.

The monster is ORPHAN Hunter X79, only with three legs, dented body, horn broke in half, no tails, missing its buzz saw arm from it's back.

"This thing just doesn't know how to stay dead doesn't it?!" I say.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 scans the room. On it's vision screen, me, Lightning and Hope are the only ones and a warning siren goes on in it as large alarm that says 'ORPHAN' blinks. ORPHAN Hunter X79 goes haywire. It shoots missiles to the ceiling which causes the rocks to fall. The rocks cuts Serah, Vanille, Snow, Noel, Fang and Sazh out of the fight.

I look back seeing everyone else cut off. "Well. There goes the reinforcements." I say.

"A PSICOM war machine? What is it doing here?" Hope asks.

Lightning takes out her Gunblade. "Being totaled."

We start off the fight with me in Synergist casting Haste on everyone then Bravery on myself and Lightning, Faith on Hope. Lightning strikes at the war machine. Hope casts his offensive magic. The ORPHAN Hunter X79 shoots at Lightning. I shift into Shaman shooting Flamestrike at the monster. The ORPHAN Hunter X79 does Avalanche, shooting its gun arm in the air, causing a rockslide on top of us. Lightning shifts into Ravager casting Thunder and Banish at the monster.

ORPHAN Hunter X79 staggers, wither quickly and easily since it's severely damaged. The fight with the war machine was short. ORPHAN Hunter X79 is going haywire, constantly breaking down and reboosting. The machine collapses and twitches.

"Well, at least things can't get any worse." I say.

Just to my luck, the Empress Windleaf dives right in, in front of the ORPHAN Hunter X79. This machine is roars right in front of us. When the deafening screech ends, Lightning slaps me in the back of the head.

"Do you have to jinx it?" She yells at me.

"Sorry. Not my fault!" I say.

We battle the Empress Windleaf. We still have my Synergist buffs, so I attack with my Flamestrikes in Shaman. Hope shifts into Synergist and bless all of us with Protect and Shell. The Empress Windleaf slashes at Lightning then does Deafening Screech, which dazes me. Hope shifts back into Ravager casting Fire and Aero and Blizzard. Empress Windleaf does Gust, casting a volley of Aero's at the three of us. Hope and Lightning shifts into Medic and casts Cure on us.

I shift into Commando shooting at the Cybug monster. Once we're healed up, Lightning and Hope shifts into Ravager and cast their offensive magic. Empress Windleaf slashes at me, then Hope and unleashes Attack Order. A swarm of hundreds of tiny robotic bugs flies around and attacks us. We all shift into Commando and attack the Empress Windleaf head on.

The Empress Windleaf stumbles back. The three of us stands our ground. Everyone else climbs through the rocks and gathers behind us. "You guys okay?" Serah asks.

"Just peachy." I say.

The Empress Windleaf looks at us. ORPHAN Hunter X79 staggers to stand back up, but it just ends up collapsing back on the ground. The Empress Windleaf looks back at the other war machine, then faces us and screeches. We were jumped at the screech then the Empress Windleaf spreads its wings and flies over and behind ORPHAN Hunter X79.

The monstrous Cybug charges up then releases tentacle wires. We all stand back watching this. The Empress Windleaf is taking apart the ORPHAN Hunter X79, and applying the parts on its own.

We're all worried as we can tell what's going on. "Don't. Say it!" Lightning says.

"I don't have to." I say.

The Empress Windleaf merges with the ORPHAN Hunter X79. ORPHAN Hunter X79's legs turned into cannon guns floating over the machines head, the claw arms on Empress Windleafs shoulders, having the horn on its head with the gun attached to it.

They have merged into Manavine Huntress V2. "It's already getting worse!"

We start our fight with me in Saboteur. I cast Deprotect and Deshell on the monster. Manavine Huntress V2 readies its targeting. Hope casts his Blizzard, Aero and Fire spells while Lightning shoots with her Gunblade. I apply Debrave on the Manavine Huntress V2 then shift into Shaman and start shooting with Flamestrike.

Lightning shifts into Ravager and casts her Thunder, Water and Banish spells. We fill up the attack chain until the Manavine Huntress V2 locks its targets on us and unleashes Hurricane Storm, the three cannon guns hovers above us, spins around at high speed and shoots hundreds of lasers at us.

Didn't really hurt much but we suffered a lot of damage. When that was over, Lightning and Hope shifts to Medic and heal us with Cure, while I shift into Commando. I cast a single Ruin spell then shoot with my bow and arrows. Manavine Huntress shoots at us with its horn gun. Once we were healed up, Lightning and Hope shifts into Ravager and resumes casting their offensive magic.

Manavine Huntress V2 unleashes Deafening Screech, which dazes us all. Moments after that, Manavine Huntress V2 does Death From Above, spreads it wings takes flight and crashes right onto us. We don't bother to heal ourselves, though we do constantly drink potions in between our attacks on the monster.

Manavine Huntress V2 charges at me and swipes its shoulder claws at me. Afterwards, we have it staggering. Lightning and Hope both shifts into Commando and we all attack the Manavine Huntress V2 head-on. The monster barely gets the change to attack us, dopuring my time I shift into Synergist reapplying Haste on us then quickly shift back into Commando and resume shooting.

We defeated the Manavine Huntress V2.

[Crystarium Extended - Stage 4]

Manavine Huntress V2 goes haywire. For it loses control and starts crashing into walls and part of the remaining ceilings. The monsters impact causes the temple to rumble and shake, which puts us on alert.

Manavine Huntress V2 falls and collapses into the center with an unstable spark. "Oh sweet mama! That thing's gonna blow!" Sazh says.

"Everyone take cover!" Snow shouts.

Snow grabs Serah and runs to a wall behind a fallen piece of ceiling. Hope joins them in that place of hiding. Me, Lightning and Noel moves behind a table underneath the Etro's Gate. We tipped the table over and hide behind it using it as a shield. Fang, Sazh and Vanille are still out in the open, trying to find a hiding place, but it's too late.

The war machine explodes. The explosion was so fierce it blows away the second floor of the temple.

Right above the temple an airship flies in the sky. Caius and the hooded figure faces down, looking at the temple below.

"It seems they weren't so lucky against the monstrosity." Caius says.

"Don't be so foolish, Caius. I know these l'Cies very well. Especially that ORPHAN boy." The figure says. "He is a very...exhilarating experiment."

Caius faces the figure. "I can't imagine why the Director of PSICOM would seek interest in such a shadowy character."

The figure chuckles and smiles with her exposed lips. "You'd be surprised." The figure turns and walks off.

Meanwhile, in the catacombs, Vanille, Sazh and Fang are unconscious in the dirt. Fang moans as she starts to regain conscious. She sits up, a hand on her head. Vanille also awakens.

"Ow...my head." Fang says.

Fang and Vanille turns their heads side to side. Sazh lets out a rough cough. He sits up, shaking the nerves off. "What just happened?"

"You tell me." Fang says standing up.

Vanille stands up as well. "Where are we?"

"Uh...looks like we're back in the catacombs." Sazh looks up. So do Fang and Vanille. They see a small opening that seems far away. "I'm guessing we must have fallen when that war machine exploded."

Vanille walks around. "Well...what now?"

Fang looks at the single path ahead. "Well...I guess we just take a look around. Unless we can somehow spread wings and fly out of here."

The chocobo chick pops out of Sazh's head and chirps at Fang. Sazh deeply sighs. "Separated again. Just like old times." Vanille giggles at Sazh's comment. "Just hope the others survived the blast."

"I'm sure they're fine. They are tough people...well, maybe not Serah. Not too sure about that Noel person." Fang says.

"I'm sure they did. If an old guy like Sazh survived the blast and the fall, they surely did." Vanille says.

Vanille and Fang moves on ahead. "Hey! I'm right here!" Sazh says, clearly offended by Vanille's comment.

Meanwhile, Hope, Serah and Snow are at the edge of the cliffs behind the temple. Snow is standing up stretching his body his bones crack. Hope does the same with his back.

"Man. That was hardcore." Hope says.

"Oh, tell me about it." Snow says.

Serah starts to gain conscious. Hope casts a cure spell to help her recover, then Snow helps her on her feet. "You okay, baby?"

"I'm fine." Serah says with a smile. When she's on her feet, she staggers a little with her hands on her lower back. "Oh...being on adventures is tough. I don't know how you guys handled this being l'Cie."

"It wasn't easy for me either. Back on the Vile Peaks, I was so useless and weak you sister wanted to leave me behind to fend for myself." Hope says.

"That's Lightning all right." Serah says. She and Hope both laugh.

"Speaking on which, where is sis?" Snow says.

Hope, Serah and Snow looked around. "Now that you mention it, where is everybody?"

Lightning and everyone else cannot be found. Serah worries a little. "Oh dear. I hope they're okay."

"I'm sure they'll be fine. Lightning, Patrick and Fang are tough." Snow says.

"Vanille's tough too." Hope adds.

"Sure she is." Snow says.

"Well...guess it's just the three of us." Serah points out. "What should we do now?"

"Well, I need to get to ORPHAN Headquarters." Hope reaches into his pocket taking out the Data COM. "I have to decode this to see what PSICOM are up to. Also with these tablets." Hope takes out one of the tablets from the temple. "They might give us a lead on Caius and Yeul."

"Well, then. Guess we're taking a little trip." Snow says. Snow turns, facing the cave under the cliff. He moves a few steps then stops to turn and face Serah and Hope. He gives a smile, a wink and point at himself with his thumb. "Just leave it all to me!"

Snow goes into the cave. Serah and Hope stays behind watching him. Serah smiles at Snow. "He's quite a hero, isn't he?"

"I wouldn't say that, but he sure is something." Hope says moving on.

Serah watches Hope, wondering what he meant by that. She is well aware of how he felt about Snow from the start when he took Hope's mother and she died in his hands. Is it possible he still bears a piece of his hatred towards Snow?

With that aside, we move on to the remaining members of the former l'Cie group.

Lightning stands back on her feet, not having any signs of staggering from the explosion or the crashing. She turns to see that she's right in front of the gates of Etro's Gate. Back to where we started. The temple still stands but the top half of the building is gone.

"First the Seeress are gone...now their temple." Lightning says.

I get on my feet, groan in agony. I twist my neck, which makes the bones crack. "Oh geez! That was painful." I say.

"Can't handle it?" Lightning asks me.

"I've been through worse, Lightning." I say.

"Right. That's what I expect from a Mercenary." Lightning says.

Noel groans as he starts to awaken, standing back on his feet. "Oh man. That was...something." Noel stands back up, he looks around to notice something missing. "Hey...where's everybody else?"

Me and Lightning looked around, we realized that we've been separated from everyone else. "I don't know." Lightning says.

"Do you think they survived the attack?" Noel asks.

"Hopefully they did. I could care less if Villiers didn't." I say.

Noel looks at me curious. "Just why do you hate that Snow guy so much?"

"It's a long story." Lightning says. "We'll worry about the others later." Lightning turns to face the temple. "Just what was that PSICOM war machine doing here? How did it find us?"

"I just hope that thing STAYS dead this time!" I say in irritation. "As if it was bad enough back at the Vestige."

Noel is confused. "Just what was that thing? I've never seen anything like that on Pulse. And what is PSICOM?"

"It's a long story, Noel." I say. "We'll explain on the way, but we should probably find Yeul and Caius."

Noel and Lightning agrees and we all move on.

[Flashback]

Noel is pacing around the town of Paddra. It's been a week since Yeul went off to go meet with Bhunivelze. No one has seen her since, not even Caius. Caius has gone off to find Yeul. He knows she's still alive. As a guardian of the Seeress, he can sense wither the Seeress he guards is alive or not.

Noel is still in training with Caius to become Yeul's guardian, he still has a long way to go. Wither he's ready or not, Yeul is still going to need him if Bhunivelze is really up to something bad.

Caius returns to Paddra. He approaches to Yeul's tent where Noel is waiting. Noel looks up noticing Caius is approaching him. Noel stands on his feet. "Caius. Did you find her?"

"I didn't, unfortunately." Caius says.

Noel is worried hearing that. "Unfortunately? Where is she?"

"I am not sure, Noel." Caius says. "I have looked everywhere, she's no where to be found. But she's still alive, I can still sense her."

"Well...what are we gonna do? If Bhunivelze really is up to no good, we need Yeul's help." Noel says.

"I'm well aware of that, Noel. But for now, there's nothing we can do." Caius says. "No matter, we must continue our training."

Noel takes a deep sigh, he walks off. "I'm gonna go find her."

Caius turns to watch Noel leave. "I've looked everywhere, Noel. I'm telling you she cannot be found." Some guardian Caius is... Noel hops on his chocobo and rides off.

Noel searches all over areas of Gran Pulse where he believes Noel could be: Yaschas Massif, Vallis Media and the wide hunting grounds of Archylte Steppe. She's no where to be found in any of them. Noel isn't sure what to do now, but...there's something he remembers where Yeul could be.

In the Archylte Steppe, Noel stands at the edge of the cliff, looking at the large Wyvern's that are flying by down below. Noel looks to the left to see the next wave of Wyvern's coming by. Noel's a little nervous, he's never done anything like this in his life.

Noel takes a deep breath to relax himself. Once he does this, there's no going back...and there's certainly a great chance he'll lose his life if he fails.

Noel takes a couple of steps back, keeping his eyes on the Wyverns. He positions himself. Waiting for the right moment, then...He runs and leaps off the cliff. Noel dives down, falling directly at the Wyverns. He takes out his dual swords, merges them into his lance. He shouts as he holds his lance out and as soon as he lands on the wyvern, impales his lance directly on the creatures spine.

The Wyvern roars in agony and loses its altitude. Noel tries his hardest to hold on. He pulls his lance backwards. "Come on! ...Come on!"

Noel can see ground. There's sharp spikes at the bottom. Noel pulls his lance forward then jerks back again. The Wyvern makes a sharp turn, flying forward just when it's about to hit the spikes. The wyvern is flying at high speed. Noels pays attention to where the creature is flying.

Noel makes evasive action with the Wyvern, avoiding the earth pillars. "Come on now!" Noel yells at the Wyvern. Noel commends the wyvern to avoid each of the pillars in their way. After a minute, Noel makes the wyvern soar up out of the trench and into the skies.

Noel commands the Wyvern to fly straight. Noel laughs at in enjoyment. "Too bad Caius isn't here to see this!"

Noel looks straight, suddenly screaming in worry as he sees he's about to hit a large boulder hanging on the top of a tall pillar. Noel jerks his lance to the right, causing the Wyvern to turn, only it wasn't enough. The Wyvern smashes to the boulder by it's side. The boulder tips to the side from the impact.

The wyvern still flies but is staggering when it passes the boulder. Noel looks back to see the boulder dangerously tipping over its balance, falls off of the pillar and crashes into the land behind it.

Noel chuckles nervously then lets out a relieved sigh. "On the other hand..."

Noel now sets off on the wyvern, in search for his friend Yeul.


	7. Doomstone

A/N: Well, things have gone crazy in that Etro's Temple chapter wouldn't we say? Don't ask about the trap doors on the maze, I don't know how to explain. It's just suppose to be some trick or something. Now the group is separated again. What would you say it is: A good thing or a bad thing. Maybe we'll find out.

Chapter 4: Doomstone

* * *

Fang, Vanille and Sazh are all walking in the dark tunnels beneath Gran Pulse. Fang is taking the lead while Vanille follows in a joyful burst of energy, Sazh is behind exhausted bent down trying to catch his breath.

"Oh man...I feel like I'm dying here." Sazh says. "How long have we been walking?"

"Quit complaining." Fang says. "This is nothing but a mere warm up."

"Says the Pulsian hunter who's still at a young age." Sazh says.

"Relax, funny man. We're almost there." Fang says.

Sazh stands up, looking at Fang confused. "Almost where at, exactly?"

The trio have rushed a dead end, but Fang knows welll this isn't really a dead end. She approaches to the large boulder in front of them. She grabs it by the side and starts pulling it open. Once it's fully open, they walk right inside.

"Well, here we are." Fang says.

The place Vanille, Fang and Sazh are in is a place they'd wish they haven't entered. It's a dark, filthy city with the stench of burning trash cans and oil and blood. All of the buildings are damaged and windows are broken with the shards laying on every part of the floor.

Doomstone.

"What the hell kind of place is this?" Sazh asks completely terrified.

Vanille walks up to a large sign and reads what it says. "Welcome to Doomstone," The rest is written in blood. "now good home or die." Vanille crosses her arms. "Not very welcoming if you ask me.

"Yep, Doomstone is one dangerous town." Fang turns to Sazh. "You all thought Pulse was Hell on Earth? Well then, you Cocoon people haven't meet Doomstone."

Vanille turns at Fang. "You've been here before, Fang?" Vanille asks.

"A couple of times." Fang says. "I know someone here who I believe might be of help to us."

"Oh great, so let's just take a big walk to the roads of Hell itself. Brilliant." Sazh says.

"Yeah, well, you ain't gonna survive with an attitude like that." Fang says. "If you want to survive in here, you gotta act tough. Ruthless. A criminal. Got it?"

"All right, all right. I guess I can try." Sazh turns to Vanille. "What about miss sunshines over there?"

"Hey! I'm not all smiles and sunshine! Watch!" Vanille reaches into her pouch to take out a black eyepatch. She puts it on over her left eye. "Ta-da!"

Sazh isn't really impressed. "Oh, you are so Velocycle gang material." He says sarcastically.

"All right. Enough talk, let's get moving." Fang says.

The trio walks right through the broken city of Doomstone. Sazh is getting the shaky feeling as they walk past criminals mugging each other, big can fires, tape outlines of peoples body where he assumes is where murder happens. Not only that, but there are also gunshots and people screaming painfully the moment the gunshot sound happens.

He's really starting to wish he was back on the surface of Pulse. It's safer up there in the wild then down here.

Fang, Vanille and Sazh walks right into the bar, where it's full of loud punk rock music, muscular criminals beating each other up, playing darts with one of the waiters using knifes for darts or playing pool.

Sazh has never felt more terrified in his life.

Fang approaches to the bar, taking a seat. "What's up, Joseph?"

Joseph, the man behind the bar, turns to Fang as he wipes a cup clean. "Well, well. Fang, look time no see." Joseph and Fang fist bumps each other. Joseph looks behind Fang to see Vanille and Sazh. "I see you got yourself some new comrades...what happened to that shady guy?"

"If you mean Patrick, he's not with me. He's not even my partner...Lightning beat me to him." Fang says.

"Well that's a darn shame." Joseph says. "So what brings you here to Doomstone?"

"I'm here to talk to Xever." Fang says.

"Of course you are...he's in the back as always." Joseph says.

Fang smirks and nods. She gets on her feet looking at Sazh and Vanille. "All right, I'm gonna talk to Xever. You two wait here and stay out of trouble." Fang says.

Vanille nods and smiles. "Okay-dokey, no problem." Vanille says with a giggle in the end.

Fang turns and walks off. Sazh sighs in depression. "I'm doomed."

Vanille gives Sazh a shove on the shoulder. "Oh don't be like that. You gotta act tough remember?" Vanille raise her arms up trying to show off her muscles while giving a tough guy look with a growl. That doesn't really give Sazh any confidence.

Vanille sits on the chair, humming happily while kicking her legs. Then her moment ends when a large shadow is casted over her and hears growling.

Vanille looks up to see it's a eight foot tell muscle angry man. "You're in my seat, little lady." The man says in a deep growling tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My apolo-" Vanille quickly covers her mouth realizing what she's doing. Then she begins her tough act. "I mean, get your own dang sit!"

Vanille spits, and it lands directly on the mans boot. Everyone else in the bar stares and gasps at what Vanille just did.

The man growls angrily and grits his teeth. He stares close in Vanilles face. "Do you know who I am?"

Vanille fearlessly stares close back at the man, pretty much their faces are touching. "Do you know who I am?" Vanille says mimicking his growling tone.

The man stands back. "I'm a wanted man!" The man grabs the wanted poster and yanks it off of the wall, along with the piece of the wall it's attached to, and holds it in front of him and in Vanilles face. "Ten billion Gil reward for the capture of badlands Dane. Meanest, darnest man in the whole wide west!"

"Oh yeah? Well..." Vanille grabs a piece of paper and pen, she quickly writes on it then shows a picture of her on a wanted poster, holding it right in front of Dane's face. "I'm a wanted woman! Ten billion and one Gil for the capture of wild villainous Vanille. The wildest villainous woman in the whole wide world."

Vanille double checks her poster, noticed she made an error. She writes on the poster again and shows it to see she added the eyepatch she's wearing.

"So, you think you're tough, don't yea?" Dane asks. "What'd yea say we tussle it out?"

"Anytime! Anywhere!" Vanille says.

"You're on!" Dane raises his fist up, and Vanille does the same. They shake their fists up and down in front of them, three times. At the third time, Danes hand stays fist and Vanille holds it out flat. Danes noticed his loss then quickly pokes two fingers out.

"Hey. That's cheating!" Vanille says in her normal voice in a whinning tone.

"No it's not." Danes says.

"Yes it is!" Vanille counters.

"No it's not." "Is too!" "It's not!" "Is too!" "It's not." "Is too!" "It's not." "Is too!" "It's not." "Is too!"

Fang walks right into the hidden room behind the bar. It's completely dark with only a single light pointing down at a desk in the middle of the room. Fang walks up towards the desk where a man in a business suit sits on the chair smoking a ciger and has two big muscler criminals guarding him.

"Xever. I need a-" Suddenly, the two guys rushes to Fangs sides and lift her right off of her feet. Fang starts kicking her kick as she struggles to break free. "Hey! Let me go you big palookas!"

"Fellas! Fellas! Is okay. Dis little woman is Fang, no?" Xever says.

The two goons lets Fang go. "Thank you!" Fang stands right in front of the desk across from Xever. "I see you're running a ruthless business as ever."

"Is vhat I do." Xever says. "Now, vhat can I do for you?"

"I need some information, and you're the only one who has the connections." Fang says. "We're looking for a man. He's name is Caius. Do you know anything about him?"

"Mmm...maybe I do...maybe I don't." Is all Xever says.

Fang gives a bummed look. She can see where this is going. Fang takes a seat on the chair next to her.

"Fine. What do you want?" Fang asks.

"Vell, while I got you over barrel, I figured you could make my while." Xever holds his hands with fingers locked together, setting them on his desk looking close at Fang. "As you know, da Chaos Cup is playing at Dreadzone and my top fighter can't make match. I already place bets. If I forfit, I go broke."

Fang crosses her legs then her arms. "So let me get this straight? If I enter the tournament and win, you'll give me the information I'm looking for?"

"Dat is correct! I like you, Oerba Yang Fang, you only business partner who gets deals. Others are as dumb as pile of rocks." Xever says. "Vin tournament then return to me."

Fang agrees with the deal then makes her leave.

Fang walks back into the bar where she sees a group of criminals gathered in a circle. Fang groans and shook her head. "What did she do this time?" Fang walks her way through the crowd until she finds Sazh in the front row. "What's going on, Sazh?"

Sazh just gives a look that states he can't believe what he's actually seeing. He points ahead showing Vanille and Dane are still having their childish argument.

"Anyway." Danes points at Vanille's feet. "Your shoe's untied."

Vanille gets into Danes face. "Is not!"

"Is too!" "Is not!" "Is too!" "Is not!" "Is too!" "Is not!" "Is too!" "Is not!" "Is too!" "Is not!" "Is too!" "Is not!" "Is too!" "Is not!"

Fang has had enough of this. She walks right into the scene. She grabs Vanille by the ear and starts pulling her. "Come on, 'Villainous' Vanille." Fang says as Vanille repeatly says 'Ow'.

Fang drags Vanille out of the bar while Sazh nervously follows from behind.

Once they were outside, Fang explains the situation to Sazh and Vanille. That she made a deal with Xever to enter and win a Dreadzone tournament for any information he has on Caius.

[In game: Dreadzone is a bloodbath arena in the city Doomstone. There would be a couple, a dozen maybe, caps that will take strength, skill and stredgy. Matches will unlock as the story goes on. Rewards for winning the tournaments will be powerful accessories and weapons from the start then on repeatable matches just rewards Gil. No Crystariums are earned in the battles except for doing the Chaos Cap for the first time.

One other note: If you lose a match in the tournament, you'd have to start all over in the beginning of the cap and HP will remain the same after the match, for instance, you win the match with 40% of Health left, you start off the next match with that much.]

Sazh isn't too pleased to hear about Dreadzone. "Wait-wait-wait a minute! You want us to enter some death arena? Have you lost your marbles?"

Vanille doesn't say anything, but looks at Fang with concern. "Relax, funny man. I have fought in that arena dozens of times, it's childs play."

"Easy for you to say! An old man like me will end up as some monsters chew toy." Sazh says.

Vanille gives Sazh a playful shove. "Oh don't you worry, Sazh. Me and Fang will make sure you made out in one piece."

"Great...my savior's." Sazh says sarcastically.

Vanille giggles and Fang just gives Sazh a glare, feeling offended by his little comment. Now the young and old trio. Dreadzone is in the very center of the underground town. It's a large coliseum pit filled with blood roaring crowds, torches on the walls and bones for fences and gates.

Fang, Sazh and Vanille approaches to the man by the gates to register into the Chaos Cap. The tournament begins in five minutes, so the three of them get ready to set up.

"I still don't know about this." Sazh says.

"Don't you worry, Sazh. We all faced an entire PSICOM army and evil Fal'Cie and a large fifty foot tell deranged turtle. Compared to all that, this is cake walk." Vanille says.

"Vanille's right. We maybe no longer l'Cie, but we will have our powers and Eidolon's." Fang says.

Hearing that boosts some confidence for Sazh. "Hey yeah. You're both right! Let's do this thing!" Sazh says with a chuckle and his chocobo pops out of his afro with an excited chirp.

"Now we're cooking!" Fang says.

The Chaos Cap has begun.

Fang, Sazh and Vanille walks right into the arena as the crowd cheers. As they walk to the center ring, the announcer shouts.

"Blood sport fans! Welcome to Dreadzone! The worlds roughest, toughest, deadliest illegal underground combat sport! Tonight! We welcome are new challengers! Team Pulse!"

The crowd roars in excitement. Vanille smiles and waves at everyone while Fang looks up at the distance smirking. "'Team Pulse'...I like that. Real catchy."

**Round 1**

The gates on the other side of the arena opens. What comes out are three Imps and a Yaksha.

Fang, Sazh and Vanille takes out their weapons. "Let the Blood bath begin!"

Fang starts off the fight charging in and attacking the Yaksha with her spear. Sazh and Vanille stays behind casting their offensive magic. The Yaksha strikes at Fang. The Imps casts Fire and Aero spells at Sazh and Vanille. Their attacks soon have the Yaksha staggering. Fangs very next attack send that creature into the air then she casts Ruin at it. The team focuses on the Yaksha until it's defeated.

Sazh shifts into Synergist and gives himself and Fang Bravery, Faith for Vanille, Vigilance on everyone. The Imps casts their Fire and Aero spells at everyone. Vanille shifts into Medic and heals herself and Sazh with Cure. Fang focuses on them with Blitz since they're all together. Vanille shifts into Saboteur and cast Deprotect on the creatures.

Sazh shifts into Commando and does his Blitz ability as well, finishing off those Imps.

The crowd cheers with excitement at Team Pulse's victory. "Blood sport fans! Our victors: Team Pulse!"

Sazh raises his guns in the air. "Whoa. That wasn't so bad."

"Oh, it's not over yet." Fang says.

Sazh looks at Fang with a mix of worry and confusion. "Beg your pardon?"

"All right! Time for round two!" The announcer says.

Sazh looks ahead surprised. "Round what!?"

**Round 2**

The gates open and two Mewmao's, A Svarog and four Caterchipillar's comes right out of it. "Oh come on!" Sazh shouts in complain.

Fang charges right in at the enemy. The Savrog casts Water, directly at Sazh and it applies Slow and Daze on him. Vanille casts Deprotect and Deshell on each of the enemies while Fang is attacking them. The Caterchipillar's hops towards Sazh and Vanille and attacks them. Sazh starts shooting at the Caterchipillar that's attacking him.

One of the Mewmao's scratches at Fang while the other one is healing the Caterchipillar's. Vanille shifts into Ravager and starts casting offensive magic at them. The Savrog screeches hurting Fang, Fang jobs her lance through the Savrog, ending it. Fang now focuses on the Mewmao's. Sazh finishes up two of the Caterchipillar's then focuses on one of the Mewmao's.

Vanille shifts into Medic to cast Cure on everyone. Fang does Blitz, finishing off the rest of the Caterchipillar's. It's now down to the Mewmao's. Sazh shifts into Ravager cast Fire and Aero, Vanile does the same as well once she was done with healing. The Mewmao's went down easily.

The crowd cheers for their victory. "All right! On to the next round!"

**Round 3**

Three Triffid's, a Flanbanero enters the arena. Sazh doesn't like the looks of seeing the Flanbanero, they are pretty annoying.

Fang focuses her attacks on the Triffid's. Vanille casts her magic on the Flanbanero, Sazh shifts into Commando and casts his Ruin spells on the Flanbanero. He's well aware that his guns does no affect to these tomato blobs. The Triffids stings Fang, poisoning her even. Fang does Blitz then casts a Ruin.

The Flanbanero strikes it's large wide arms at team Pulse, sure did hurt everyone. Vanille shifts into Medic, healing the group. The Triffid's does a spin attack on Fang, which poisons her and weakens her defenses with Deprotect.

"You punks think I'll go down that easy?" Fang asks.

The warrior stabs her lance at one of the Triffid's, destroying it, as Vanille is healing and curing Fang with Cure and Esuna. Sazh decides to switch to attacking the Triffid's until his shooting kills them. Now the Flanbanero remains.

Vanille and Sazh both shifts into Ravager casting Fire repeatly together. Fang casts her Ruin spells on the creature. The Flanbanero does a Watera spell on the group, then it shortly falls.

"Looks like team Pulse is on fire tonight!" The announcer shouts.

**Round 4**

Two Hedge Frog, three Swampmonk and a Sahagin Prince now enters the arena. Sazh is starting to get annoyed. "Is there no end to this?" He asks.

"Quit complaining or you'll make easy prey." Fang suggests.

Vanille steps up. "I'll handle this."

Vanille puts a hand on her thigh where her brand use to rest. That very spot glows. The crowd becomes amazed at this fighting and they stand on their feet as Vanilles crystal, the orange-green heart, appears in her hands.

"Come on, Hecaton!" Vanille places the crystal beneath her, and a large summon circle appears under her feet. Dozens of arms pop out of the edges of the circle. Vanille bounces back as her eidolon, Hecatoncheir, raises out of the ground from the circle.

Vanille stands in front of her eidolon, facing the enemies. "Let's go, Hecaton!"

Hecatoncheir attacks the enemies with its Pummel and Hurricane Kick attacks, drilling a dozen of its arms at them and low sweep kicking. Vanille stays back focusing on applying Deprotect and Deshell on them. The Swampmonks and Sagain Prince attacks Hecatoncheir. As thry attack, the eidolon counterattacks.

Hedge Frogs hops towards Vanille and attacks her, one of them does some dance to summon some Caterchipillar's into battle. Hecatoncheir does Pummel twice then Force Projection, impaling its arms in the ground to rise beneath the enemies to strike.

The Sagain Prince dies from the fight. Once everyones been Saboteured, Vanille shifts into Shaman, doing Galestrikes. Caterchipillars attacks Vanille and the Swampmonks casts Water on Hecatoncheir. Things aren't getting pretty here for Vanille or her Eidolon.

Hecatoncheir now enters Gestalt Mode. "We fight better together." Vanille says. A dust cloud appears in the arena. The crowd becomes disappointed they can't see what's happening. Hecatoncheir merges all of its arms on its shoulders together into cannon, then gets down on all sixes. Acting as some cannon creature.

The dust cloud clears, the audience are surprise to see this. Vanille hops on the Eidolons back, which is now like a seat. "Let's get things done."

They start of with Chain Cannons, rapidly firing the missile cannons at the enemies. The crowd are amazed at this show Vanille is performing. Next is Missile Tetrad, shooting missiles at the enemies. The Caterchipillars falls from the attack, then comes the Piercing Ray, shooting plasma bolts. Now they do Pier cing Ray, fires energy blast orbs.

The Hedge Frogs dies and the Swampmonks are all that's standing. "Bring out the big guns." Hecatoncheir charges up its ultimate move, Gaian Salvo. The arms disbands from each other and drills them into the ground, unleashing massive energies within the earth causing a massive energy sphere to explode.

Only a dense puff of smoke remains in the explosions wake. The crowd are on their feet. "Vanille!" Fang shouts with worry.

The smoke lightens up, revealing Hecatoncheir in its orgrinal form, holding the harmless Vanille in its arms. Fang is relieved to see she's all right. Hecatoncheir drops Vanille and leaps high as it vanishes.

"Thanks a bunch." Vanille says.

The crowd is left speechless, even the announcer. "I...I...what just happened? Could it be we have l'Cie's in our match tonight?"

"Ex-l'Cie's." Fang corrects under her breath.

"Well then. Looks like things just got a lot more interesting." The crowd cheers in agreement. "On with the next round."

**Round 5**

Five red miniflans, two Flangonzola's and a Flanbanero arrived in the arena. Team Pulse arm themselves for battle.

Fang charges right in attacking the miniflan blobs. Vanille attacks with her Blizzard and Aero spells while Sazh is in Synergist casting Bravery, Faith and Haste on everything, expect for Fang on the Faith. The Flangonzola's and Flanbanero ignores Fang, they move towards Sazh and Vanille and attacks them.

Flangonzola casts Fira at Sazh. Vanille shifts into Medic and casts Cure on him. Fang spins her Lance around with her Blitz ability until the miniflans fall. "Not much of a challenge they are." She says. Fang charges at the Flangonzola and attacks it. Sazh shifts into Shaman and does his Flamestrikes on the Flangonzola. Vanille shifts back into Ravager and casts her magic on the blob beast.

The creature is now staggering, Fang launches the creature into the air. "Eat this!" Fang says during her launch attack.

The Flanbanero attacks Sazh and Vanille. Fang attacks the Flangonzola midair until the creature is dead. Now the Flanbanero is all that's standing against Team Pulse. Fang shifts into Shaman doing some Galestrikes. The trio attacks until Flanbanero is staggering. Fang and Sazh then attacks head on in Commando.

The Flanbanero start melting away in defeat. "Oh. That's gonna leave a mark." The announcer says. "Looks like Team Pulse is burning it up tonight."

**Round 6**

Ochu, five Microchu's appear in the arena. Sazh is worried and Vanille is surprised. "Oh good grief. Anyone got a weed wacker THAT big?"

"We can take it. Don't you worry, Sazh." Vanille says with some enthusiasm.

The Ochu roars loudly, causing the ground to shake and Fang, Vanille and Sazh to slide back. Sazh falls on his butt while Fang and Vanille are still standing.

"Feisty one, ain't yea?" Fang spins her lance over her head and positions it to strike. "Bring it!"

Fang starts off in Sentinel, Provoking the enemies to attack her. Vanille shifts into Saboteur casting Deproect and Deshall on the Ochu. Sazh is in Synergist applying Enfire on himself and Fang. The Microchu's attack swift and repeatly at Fang while she's defending herself with Mediguard.

Vanille shifts into Ravager, casting Fire repeatly on the Ochu. Sazh shifts into Commando and shoots at the Ochu with his burning bullets. The large Ochu impales its tentacles into the ground and they strike at Fang from underneath. Normally it would hurt a lot and Fang would be knocked into the air, but the Mediguard keeps her in place.

Vanille shifts into Medic to quickly heal Fang, then shifts back into Ravager casting fire spells at the Ochu.

The fight goes on for a while, the Ochu isn't an easy beast to defeat. The hardest part of it is when it screeches, removing all of the Synergist spells Sazh used on everyone. Even with Fang as the target, it did hurt a lot for the group.

As soon as everythings settled, they resume assaulting on the Ochu until it was destroyed. The audiance are pretty impressed, they honestly through Team Pulse would be creamed from that wooden most covered beast.

The Microchu's were an easy kill too. If Fang, Sazh and Vanille had the chance, they would have killed the seedlings first. But they're well aware it's very pointless since the Ochu would unleash some pollen that makes them stronger and heals them.

The crowd cheers. "I'll be honest, folks. I thought Team Pulse would fall on that round. That's ten-thousand Gil I'll never get back."

Fang felt hurt to hear that, someone betting against them, even on a powerful enemy.

**Round 7**

A Munchkin, Munchkin Maestro, Moblin, Major Moblin, Goblin, Goblin Chieffain, Buccaboo, Buccaboo Ace enters the arena.

Fang gives a single chuckle as she smirks. "Quite a party we got here."

Sazh, on the other hand, complains. "When does this torment end? I don't have this kind of stamina!"

"Quit complaining!" Fang says, positioning herself to fight.

In this fight, Sazh is starting to wish that has he protection spells in his Synergist role. These goblins are really packing a punch...literally. They are swinging their fists at each of us, nearly non-stop from the little ones and powerful hits from the big ones. Vanille and Fang spends nearly the whole battle in their Sentinel and Medic rols while Sazh is fighting them off in Commando.

Vanille is starting to regrat wasting their energy summoning her eidolon on the fourth round. Let that be a lesson: Always make sure to never waste your energy or powerful attacks on fights you can handle.

The crowd gets bored after the first few minutes of the fight, cause it takes Sazh like two minutes to make a kill.

After a while, the Munchkin, Goblin, Major Moblin, Buccbaoo and Buccbaoo Ace are the only ones standing. Fang was able to shift into Saboteur, casting Slowga on them. Only one of them become affected, at least it's one of the big ones.

Fang continues casting her slow spell at them until the whole enemy party is affected, then she shifts into Commando to attack them. Vanille was even allowed to shift into Ravager once her healing duty was done.

The audiance regains interest and pleasure once blood starts spilling on the arena. Soon enough, all of the goblins are defeated.

"Looks like Team Pulse is having a slow day. It seems they're about to hit their limits."

Sazh can't argue with that. He just wishes this tournament would end already.

**Round 8**

Two Feral Behemoths and a Behemoth King comes right into the arena. "Oh dear. Someone better get a mop for Team Pulse tonight." The announcer says.

"Don't bet your Gils just yet." Fang shouts. "Lady Luck's on our side tonight!"

"Yeah! Lady Bad Luck." Sazh shouts in worry and doubt.

Fang starts off in Sentinel, taking all of the hits and defending herself, while Vanille weakens the enemies defenses in Saboteur and Sazh strengthens himself and Vanille and Fang in Synergist.

The Behemoths strikes at Fang, the ferals swiping their claws and the king hurling Fang. Her Mediguard wore off so she was knocked into the air. Vanille shifts into Medic to cast Cure on Fang until she's all healed up. At least she was able to affect the Behemoths with Deprotect and Deshall before she was needed for healing.

Sazh was done with his strengthening as well, so he shifts into Shaman doing Flamestrikes. Fang shifts to Commando and focuses on downing one of the Feral Behemoths.

In a matter of minutes, the two Feral Behemoths are down, and Vanille shifts into Ravager to help them finish off the King Behemoth.

Unfortunately, the King Behemoth enters its berserk rage. Standing on its hind legs, pulling its horn out revealing to be a buzz saw weapon and shouting, reatoring its health and granting it more strength.

I'm sure glad I'm not here to witness that. I hate it when Behemoths goes all berserk like that.

The highlight in this is that the King Behemoth is near in stagger mode. Fang had to endure a few hits, with Vanille shifting into Medic to heal Fang, then the creature staggers. Sazh shifts into Commando and starts shooting.

Fangs attacks causes the Behemoth to be launched in the air. At the final midair strike, it's defeated.

"Wow. Things are really starting to heat up in the arena!"

**Round 9**

Xoloti and Miquiztli enters the arena. Sazh isn't too pleased to see these creatures. They remind him of those he and Vanille encountered at the end of the Sunleth Waterscrape.

"Hey Sazh, anymore complents?" Fang asks.

"Nope. Not me! I'm just gonna play dead." Sazh says.

"Well good luck with that." Fang jokes.

Team Pulse takes on the two Woodwraiths. They start off against Xoloti, the beast of fire. In Synergist, Sazh applies Enwater on himself and Fang while Vanille attacks by casting her Water spells. Once Sazh was done he shifts into Commando, knowing his fire spells or Flamestrikes will have no affect on the creature, he's better off shooting in Commando. It's not a bad thing, really.

Xoloti and Miquiztli attacks Fang and Vanille, tackling, with head or tail, and casting Fira or Aerora spells. Xoloti was a quick kill cause of Sazh and Fangs water-powered commando attacks. Enraged, Miquiztli roars in anger, granting it haste and bravery.

The team switches to the beast of wind. Sazh shifts into Ravager and starts casting his Fire spells at it, Vanille does her Thunder spells on it. Miquiztli casts Aerora on Sazh, knocking him in the air. Since Vanille was close by, she got caught in the gust of air.

Fang strikes hard on the Woodwraith. "Is that the best you've got?" She tells it.

Miquiztli staggers back. After recovering, it roars and charges. "Apparently not!" Sazh says.

Fang shifts into Sentinel, standing her ground with Mediguard. The Miquiztli slams into Fang like she's a break wall, Fang stands her ground to hold the beast back while Sazh and Vanille finishes it off.

The Miquiztli finally falls and the crowd cheers. "My oh my. Looks like Team Pulse have made it to the finals. Hope they have a will, cause this might be their last fight."

**Round 10**

Fang, Sazh and Vanille takes the moment to catch their breath, especially Sazh, while the final match of the tournament is starting up.

"Ladies and gentleman! We now enter the finals of the Chaos cap. On this side of the arena, the unstoppable trio: Team Pulse!"

The crowd cheers at Fang, Vanille and Sazh. Vanille waves back at them with a smile. Looks like someone enjoys having an audiance.

The gates on the opposite side of the arena opens up.

"On the opposite side of the arena. We have the undefeated champion! The man who vanquished a whole army single handily! The bringer of doom! The right-hand man of Chaos himself!"

A man in elaborate gray armor, with blue jeweled sections on the shoulders andwrists, in a helm with horns and a blue cloak, held by a gold clasp, walks right into the arena, with a massive longsword.

Garland

"Give it up for Garland!"

The crowd cheers with excitement. Sazh and Vanille, on the other hand, are shaking in terror. Fang just stands there, putting all her weight on her right leg, smirking.

"He doesn't look so tough." She says.

"Easy for you to say!" Sazh says.

Garland walks to the center, looking at team Pulse. "So! You're the miserable insects who dares to face me! I shall break your bodies and crush your souls and feed them to the maggots!"

Fang takes her position. "Bring it, sweetcheeks!"

Garland makes the first strike by sweeping his weapon at the trio then knocks Fang in the air with an under strike. Vanille shifts into Saboteur and casts Deprotect and Deshall on Garland. Sazh shifts into Synergist and strengthens the group.

Fang crushes to the ground. As soon as she's on her feet, she strikes Garland. Garland fights back, and they both end up parrying each others attacks.

At the third parry, Garland does a swift heavy knock down attack. "I'll crush you!" He says.

Vanille shifts into Medic to heal Fang with her Cure spells. Sazh shifts into Shaman to do Flamestrikes. Garland charges at Sazh with his weapon then shortly, very shortly, does a knock down attack. Fang shifts into Shaman, doing Galestrikes.

Garland separates his weapon into two and attacks Fang. Once everyone's healed up, Vanille shifts into Ravager and attacks Garland with her spells. Garland does another under strike, knocking Vanille in the air.

"Fools! You think you can defeat me?" Garland strengthens himself, his armor turns more white. As the former l'Cie attacks him, Garland does Earthquake. "No escape!" He slams his weapon on the ground, causing a rupture on the spot and rock spikes to rise. Sazh suffered greatly from that, Vanille shifts into Medic to heal him up.

Fang stikes at Garland, her Galestrikes causes him to stagger. She and Sazh shifts into Commando and they attack him, Fangs first strike launches him in the air. Vanille shifts into Shaman and does some Galestrikes.

This goes on for a while, Garland suffering heavy damage up until he is not longer staggering. Garland does a sweeping strike, then he leaps back, performing Tsunami. "Take this!" He hurls his weapon at them in a water element. The sword curls around then ends with a burst of water coming out from beneath.

Everyone's weaken from the blow. Fang shifts into Sentinel, Provoking Garland then defends with Mediguard.

"Getting tired there, big boy?" She taunts him.

Vanille shifts into Medic and heals up herself and Sazh and Fang. Garland attacks Fang, his attacks barely does much effort against her defenses. When everyone's healed up, Vanille shifts into Ravager, Sazh in Ravager and Fang in Commando then they all attack Garland.

Garland starts to weaken. "Lord Chaos!" He begins charging up chaotic energy, then bursts out all of his power. Granting him molten chaotic wings and tail. He's gone feral. "GIVE ME STRENGTH!"

The crowd are pretty surprised to see that sudden burst of energy. Sazh was pretty shocked as well, but that doesn't stop him, but what Garland is about to do might.

Garland draws back his sword, charging up. "Miserable INSECTS!" Then unleashes Soul of Chaos. Garland dashs through the group with a single sweeping strike. Chaotic Energy remains behind then explodes in a sudden burst.

This ability not only hurt team Pulse, but also removed their Synergist buffs.

"Oh my. Looks like things are about go wild up in here!" The crowd cheer in agreement.

Fang and the others starts to get back on their feet, looking at the Chaos infused Garland. "Damn it! He's too powerful. He'll cream us!" Sazh says.

"Yeah? Well we can't give up here." Fang says.

Garland charges head on to Fang. She guards herself with Mediguard. The impact causes her to slide back a little, but still standing her ground. Sazh shift into Synergist, casting his strengthening spells on everyone again. Vanille shifts into Medic and heals everyone.

Garland strike at Fang using Flare. "Unleash the fury!" He holds his weapon back as it charges in flames, then strikes hard at Fang with a burning explosion in the end.

Sazh and Vanille shifts into Ravager, Fang into Shaman, and they chain attack Garland. Garland does a sweeping strike then a slam attack that knocks Vanille and Sazh into the air. Fang shifts into Commando, casts a Ruin spell then attacks.

Garland and Fang have their weapons clashed, face to face with each other. "Accept your fate, insect! You have no other choice!"

"Oh yeah? Let's see what Lady Luck has to say about that!" Fang shifts her weapon to break free from the clash. Garlands sword was drawn back, leaving him open for Fang to strike. Fang delivers a couple of blows on Garland, then does a launch attack sending him in the air.

Fang jumps high to Garland. When she's close to him, she does a Smite attack, striking him downward, causing him to crash into the ground.

Garland is defeated.

The crowd cheers with excitement. "I can't believe it!" The announcer shouts. "Ladies and Gentleman. Give it up for our new champions: Team Pulse!"

Everyone chants 'Team Pulse'. Sazh feels a bit awkward, Vanille and Fang waves back at the crowd. It's certainly a fine time for each of them.

Fang and the others head back to the violent bar to report to Xever. The moment they entered the bar, all the other villains and criminals, include Badlands Dane, was clearing the way in fear. Looks like word got around quickly about what happened in Dreadzone.

The three of them enters the back room. "Fantastic! You did it!" Xever says with enthusiasm. "You cleared your vays to da finals. I have earned pot of gold. Tonight: I eat like king!"

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Skip the lecture." Fang puts her elbows on the desk. "We've done what you asked, now it's time for you to uphold your end of the bargain."

Xever gives a serious look then a small nod. "Very vell. Deal is deal and I am man of honor."

"Most of the time." Fang says under her breath, hoping Xever didn't hear that.

"So, man name Caius vas it?" Fang nods. "Da. I know him. Came by veek ago. Asked for location of little girl."

"Little girl?" Sazh says. "Did he say it was Yeul?"

"Da, he did. I told him I know nothing of little girl, den he threatened me with blade." 'That does sound like Caius.' Fang thought. "However, he vas interrupted by other visitor."

"Oh really? Who was that?" Fang says.

"No clue. Face was hidden by hooded cloak." Xever takes out a paper and pen, starts drawing. "But she did have emblem that clipped the cloak on. Looked like dis."

Xever slides the paper towards Fang. She picks it up and looks at it. Sazh and Vanille looked over her shoulders at the picture. The picture of the symbol of PSICOM.

"This is the mark of PSICOM." Fang says.

"The hooded figure is from PSICOM?" Vanille asks.

"I don't know. I'm lost on the PSICOM part. Is Caius working for them?" Sazh says.

Fang sets the paper down and faces Xever. "What else happened? Did the other person say anything?"

"Around me, nothing. Just asked Caius to step out. I vonder vhat she is up too, so I sent men to investigate." Xever says.

"What did he learn?" Fang says.

"Nothing much. Just heard about secret meeting in village of flowers." Xever says.

"Village of flowers?" Vanille gasps. "That's Oerba."

"If PSICOM are having a meeting there, something must be up." Sazh says.

"You are corvect." Xever says.

Fang seems supicious. "You're know something." Fang slams a hand on the desk. "What's going on with Oerba?"

"I don't know." Before Xever could continue. Fang jumps off her seat, grabs Xever by the collar and pins her lance in his face, right at the tip of his nose.

"You better tell, buster!" Fang shouts.

Now Xever is looking worried. "No, no, no. I svear, I know nothing! All I know is veeks ago, I've lost communications with value costumers from Oerba. None called. None answered."

Fang lets Xever go. "Sounds like something big is happening in Oerba." Vanille says.

"Yeah. And I got a feeling those PSICOM punks are involved." Fang says.

"If you going to investigate. I recommend against it." Xever warns them. "I have sent dozens of my best man dere. Nobody came back."

Sazh seems worried to hear that. "We'll take our changes. Let's go."

Vanille and Fang starts leaving, but Sazh stays behind. "Uh...well, maybe we shouldn't go. I mean, maybe they're just having a blackout or-"

Fang grabs Sazh by the back of his jacket. "You're coming too, funny man!"

Sazh complains as he's being dragged. He obviously doesn't want to end up not coming back from Oerba.

The three of them arrive at the train station near the roof of this underground city. There aren't many transports, in fact they're the only ones who are at the station. The next train arrived, unloading a punch of criminals and bodybuilders, those who either want to watch or be in Dreadzone.

Fang, Sazh and Vanille boards the train, where their next destination is Oerba, the village of flowers.


	8. Luxerion part I

A/N: Can you blame Sazh for the way he's behaving in Doomstone? It is a very frightening town. How about Vanille, huh? She's pretty funny acting all tough with Dane. The girl cracks me up back in FFXIII. My favorite part was her "More or less" joke when Sazh asked if she slept through history. Cause she literally slept through it, in crystal.

Moving on.

Chapter 5: Luxerion

* * *

As Lightning, Noel and I wonder through the lands of Pulse, we both explained everything that's happened to Noel. Everything about Cocoon, the thirteen days when Fang and Vanille woke up, Serah becoming a Pulse l'Cie then the rest of us becoming l'Cies. All winding up to the point where we face and defeated Orphan then became Ragnarok and saved Cocoon from its own destruction.

Noel certainly had a lot of questions, like why would Cocoon Fal'Cie want to destroy Cocoon. We explained that they were plotting to destroy Cocoon for a nobile sacrifice to summon the Maker. We never figured out why they wanted to summon him, whatever they were planning, it's over.

Noel did tell us a few things he understood before he turned to crystal. Apparently, there was a grand Fal'Cie known as Bhunivelze, who ruled the land of Pulse and commanded the Fal'Cie along with Pulse and Lindzel. Yeul became a l'Cie with a dangerous focus, apparently one that goes against Etro's desire. Other then that, he doesn't know anything.

The three of us are now walking down the land, me and Lightning on Snowflake and Noel on a chocobo.

"So why would Pulse and Lindzel go against each other?" I ask.

"I don't remember. Everything's been a haze since I woke up." Noel says. "Even on the first day, all I remember was Caius and Yeul, of course I barely remembered Yeul's name."

"Funny. The same thing happened to Fang when she woke up." Lightning says.

I slightly pulled the reins, causing Snowflake to stop. "Guys. Look."

Lightning and Noel looks ahead. We are just about to arrive a large city. "Is that...Luxerion?" Noel asks.

Lightning and I look at Noel. "You know this place?"

"Yeah. Hundreds of years ago. Of course it was just a small town." Noel says.

The three of us arrive at the city gates (Which is where the south train station in Lightning Returns use to be) There are ORPHAN soldiers guarding the entry. Just when we're about to pass, they block our way.

"Halt! State your business!" The soldier says.

"We're General Farron and Sergeant Patrick of ORPHAN." Lightning says. "We're here for some investigation."

Noel leans close and whispers. "I don't think we'll be able to find Caius here."

I whisper back at Noel. "You can't be too careful."

The guards stand by. "Very well. Carry on, general."

We all walk right in, arriving at the Southern Distract. We hop right off of our Chocobos and then leave them at the nearby stables. Noel walks around looking amazed as he gets a view of the city.

"Whoa...sure has grown." Noel says.

"Luxerion was like this when we found it. We spent the next six months rebuilding it." I say. "Ever since then, people refer it as the City of Light."

"Why's that?" Noel asks.

"It's been that way when we added the first Cathedral. People often come here to worship the Maker." Lightning says.

"Really? Sounds interesting." Noel says.

As we're chatting, we hear a fainted scream. The sound alerted us. The sound was the sound of trouble. Me and Lightning went rushing towards the direction the sound came from, then Noel lately follows us.

Past the Southern Distract, we arrive at the Cathedral Courtyard. Tons of citizens have gathered around in the courtyard. The three of us makes our way through the crowd. Someting's going on and we have a feeling Caius might be involved.

When we arrive the front line, we see nothing up ahead, but when we look up, we're pretty in shocked. There's a shirtless dead man hanging from the middle large window from the neck, and on his chest are tons of cuts forming into the symbol of PSICOM, with blood running down the body and dripping.

"Bhunivelze." Noel whispers.

"PSICOM." Lightning and I whispers.

Lightning and I are completely speechless seeing this. Normally, the Cathedral is a place of sanctuary. No one would dare bring murder to this holy ground, let alone violence of any kind. Yet that didn't stop PSICOM. They are more evil then we thought.

We hurry on inside and head up the stairs. The bishop tried to stop us, like we were barging in, but we kept going. Up on the top floor, there we no one here. All that was up here was a bloody long sword with thorns coming out from both sides of the blade.

I'm guessing this sword was used to cut the man.

We pull the dead man out of the hanging, brought him down to ground level. Noel sits patiently on one of the benches, Lightning stands next to the bishop while he and the other priests are performing some ritual around the body, while I'm just hanging on the side looking at the blooded blade in confusion.

Once the ritual is done, the bishop covers the body in a blanket and he prays for the man to rest in peace. Leaving me, Lightning and Noel wondering what's going on here.

"Who could have done this?" Lightning asks.

"It's probably no ordinary member of PSICOM if they would go this far." I say.

"Right. We have to find that criminal before he hurts other people." Lightning says.

"Only, where could he be?" Noel asks.

"Judging by the blood on the blade, the event recently happened." I hold the blade down. "There are only two ways to leave this city: The train station and the gates."

"Could the murderer have escaped to one of them?" Noel asks.

"Unlikely. The train station is far north. Even if he had gotten there, he would have to wait for a schedule to leave." Lightning says.

"If he was heading for the gates, we would have seen someone running away. And he's no where in the scene of crime." I add.

Lightning can get what I'm saying. "So he's still in the city."

"But why would he?" Noel asks.

"There are ORPHAN soldiers guarding the city. Running away would be pointless." I say.

Lightning makes a calling to the officers of ORPHAN. Giving orders, to those in Luxerion, to lock down the entire city. Nobody goes in or out without authorization. With that aside, the three of us head outside of the Cathedral. Everyone in the courtyard stops talking as soon as we stepped out.

"Would anybody who saw what happened please step forward?" I announced.

Nobody volunteers. Many of the citizens just looks at each other, whispering. Wondering what happened, if they're going to be in trouble or questioning each other if they saw anything about the crime scene.

Finally, a young woman steps forward. She has long black hair, wearing a blue and silver long, open sleeved, shirt that goes down to her upper legs, and black tights.

"What is your name?" Lightning asks.

The women seems nervous and afraid. Either cause she thinks she's in trouble or cause the event has her scared.

"I am Yuki Sapphire, ma'am." Yuki says.

"By any chance, were you the one who let out the first scream?" I ask.

Yuki nods. "Yes. I know that man, he was my fiancé." Lightning and I are surprised to hear this. "His name was Andrew. We were engaged and were about to get married. We came here all the way from Junon for the wedding. It was all about to happen in two weeks."

The women seemed like she was about to cry. Noel stands beside her, rubbing her back to try to comfort her. "Did you happen to see anything?"

Yuki looks at Noel then at me and Lightning. "I...I don't know. I thought I imagined it, but I did saw something move behind him."

"What was it?" I ask.

"I don't know. It was shrouded in some black cloak, andit was too dark and too far to tell." Yuki says.

Lightning and I looked at each other. "A blender in the shadows." I say.

Yuki was too upset to continue the conversation. We escort her all the way to her temporary home in Old Town.

"Sorry for having you escort me all the way here." She says.

"It's fine. No big deal." Lightning says.

"If you don't mind, we would like to continue this coversation later today. Can you meet us at The Banquet at six?" I ask.

Yuki gives a small nod. "I'll try."

Yuki walks right into the inn. "Now, on to business." Lightning, Noel and I start walking down the pathway, heading towards the North Station. "We gotta find some intell about our little friend here."

"How can we do that?" Noel asks.

"Investigation, my friend." I take out the sword back from the Cathedral. "The criminal left behind this sword."

"It's obviously not from Sazh, so it could have been made by someone else." Lightning says.

"That is right. And we know who has the answer to that." I say.

The three of us head for the Commercial District, which is filled with shops. People are often here. However, we are not here for any trinkets and such. We stop right in front of the building that is the only blacksmith shop in town.

Here we figured we might some answers about the murder.

We walk right into the weapons shop. It's a small room, almost like it can only fit five people, ten or twelve if you want crowded.

"Welcome to the blacksmith shop, for all your weaponary needs." The owner says.

Lightning and I approach the man behind the counter while Noel stands behind us, looking around at some of the latest swords.

The owner, Smith, seems suspicious about Lightning and I. "You two are the military force? If this is about my overdo taxes, I already paid them."

"We're not here for taxes." I say. "We want answers."

Lightning and I take Smith into the back to ask questions. Noel seems fixated with the swords that's selling so we leave him be. We both told Smith the situation at the Cathedral. He's pretty shocked to hear about it.

"Someone was murdered? At the Church?" Smith asks.

"Afraid so. We are just as surprised as you are." I say.

"The murder is a member of PSICOM, given to that the victim he killed was left with the PSICOM symbol cut right on his body." Lightning says. "There were no traces of anyone mysterious in the Cathderal. All that was found was this."

I take out the blade. Smiths eyes opens a little wide, for he is surprised to see the sword. "Your the only Blacksmith in this city. We thought you might know something."

Smith nods. "Indeed I do. I made this weapon." Lightning and I are shocked to hear that. "One of my finest. I called it Saberblaze."

"Are you apart of this crime?" Lightning asks, hostile.

Smith can see the hostility in her eyes. "Whoa! Settle down. It's not what you think. I didn't know anything about someone being murdered."

"Can you please tell us what happened?" I ask.

"Certainly." Smith answers.

Smith tells us about what happened.

It was an ordinary day for him until a hooded figure walks right into the shop. (Hint: It's the same hooded figure Xever mentioned to Fang, Vanille and Sazh) The figure asked Smith to make a weapon for her.

"Was this person a PSICOM member?" Lightning asks.

"Possibly. She had a PSICOM symbol badge clasp on her chest to keep the cloak on." Smith says.

"And you made the weapon for her?" I ask disappointed.

"Hey, a costumer's a costumer's. That and she threatened me to make it by electrocuting me with some metal rod. I can still feel the electricity in my body." Smith twitches when he was done talking. Guess that shows he isn't lying.

"Did you at least ask her what she was gonna use the weapon for?" Lightning asks.

"Something like that. I asked for some identification, but she just repeated 'I need you to make me a weapon.' I told her I can't without identification and that's when she zapped me." Smith explains.

Lightning and I look at each other. "It's a PSICOM member all right." Lightning says.

"No kidding. And if it's denying to show identification, I'm guessing she doesn't want anyone to know who she is." Lightning and I turn out attention back at Smith. "Is there anything else you can tell us about this person?"

Smith puts his fingers on his chin, thinking. "Well...there is one thing. But I think I might have imagined it."

"What?" Lightning and I both say.

"After I forged the weapon, just when she turned to leave. I saw something on the bottom of her left wrist." Smith takes out a paper and pen and starts drawing. "I'm pretty sure it was just the electric shock, but it...kind of looks like this."

As soon as Smith is done drawing, Lightning and I take the paper and look at it. What we are seeing, it leaves us completely speechless. Never, in a million years would ever see this picture on a human begin.

The brand of Lindzel. In other words: The mark of Cocoon l'Cie.

We ask no further questions to Smith. We just grab Noel and head outside. Right now, Lightning's just hanging next to the Blacksmith door, Noel is just standing looking at the brand drawing while I'm pacing around in confusion.

"Nothing makes sense!" I say. "Why would the murder have the mark of a Cocoon l'Cie?"

"Maybe she's been branded by the fal'Cie." Noel says.

"No. That's not possible. Cocoon fal'Cie died off when we defeated Orphan." Lightning says. "There's no way it's a l'Cie."

I stop right beside Lightning. "So what, is that brand just a tattoo or something?"

Lightning thinks for a moment. "Maybe. It's probably a mark they give to the high rankings."

"That could be true. Only I've never really seen anything like this on any of the high ranks we fought." I say.

"Same here. Lightning says. "Okay, let's get back on track. We're looking for a women with a Cocoon l'Cie...tattoo on her left wrist."

"Well, we can obviously rule out Yuki. I say we split up, search every women in town for the mark." Noel says.

Lightning and I agrees, and we split up. I search the Warren, Noel looks around the Warehouse Distract and Lightning takes the Residences.

Noel and I hardly found much people in these areas, but we do encounter some creatures. Nothing major, just a bunch of imps and these strange creatures that looks like Anubis. Anubys.

I'm surprised to see these Aunbys creatures. I have never seen anything like them. I have heard there was once an eidolon known as Anubis, but nothing like this.

Lightning searches all around, from the Residences to the Southern Distract. Every women she encountered is always the same result: No Cocoon l'Cie tattoo. When she was done with her searching, she heads for the Arcade, a mini park distract. it's not really much of a park, if anything it's the only area in this city with blades of grass and few living trees.

It's nearly sunset at the moment. Lightning arrives in the Arcade. To her suprise, she sees me by the railings, looking down in the river.

Lightning approaches me. "Any luck?"

I turn to see it's only Lightning, then I turn my attention back to the waters. "No. I take it you didn't find anything."

Lightning turns and leans her waist against the railing. "Afraid not."

"I wonder if Noel is having better luck then we are." I say.

Both Lightning and I are silent while Noel is having a hard time fighting off the Anubys in the Warehouse Distract. I am trying to think of some solution to this mystery while Lightning gets lost in her mind. Up until she speaks.

"Hey, Patrick?" I look at Lightning. "Can I ask you something?"

I'm concerned, it's really not like her to be like this, especially in a middle of some mission. "Why ask all of a sudden?"

"It's just something I need to get off my chest." Lightning says.

That doesn't really help with my concerns, but I go with it. "All right...what's eating you?"

"Let's say...there's this...guy, who likes me...who has a crush on me. But I don't really feel the sameway. What should I do?" Lightning asks.

I raise an eyebrow questioningly hearing that. Why would she ask me this? Then it hit me. "It's Hope, isn't it?"

Lightning becomes astonished to hear me say that. "How did you know?"

"I know you too well, Lightning. Hope is usually the only boy you care about, and with every guy I've seen crushing on you and you have no interest in, you just reject them." Not only that, but there are some of them when she ends up slamming the door in their faces, or when it gets critical, puts them in the hospital.

Lightning seems offended, almost like what I said made it sound like she's cold. Ice queen maybe. "T-that. That's not true. I mean...I care about some guys...like you for instance."

"Yeah, but if I were a crush, I predict a door in my face by you." I say, arms crossed. She knows I'm right, even gave me a look saying so. "That aside, are you certain Hope is crushing on you?"

"What do you mean by that?" Lightning asks.

"If there's one thing I learned, you can never assume. One of burdens of Immediate Judgment. So far in this situation, I just see it as you thinking he is cause he's the young boy and you're the beautiful woman. It's a common situation." I turn my head from Lightning, just looking straight. "Back in middle school, that happened to me. People kept thinking I was crushing on Maddie Kazuto. She was a nineteen year old assistant to the vice principle and I was thirteen to fourteen on the year it started. And all I do is have some counseling with her."

"Why is that? You were being bullies or something?" Lightning asks, concern.

"Something similar. People kept bugging me and irritating me." I look at Lightning. "You have no idea what it's liked to be named after some idiot character from a show. It's just insulting."

"Okay..." Lightning sounds unsure saying that. "Well, I see what you mean, but there have been some signs that shows Hope might have a crush on me." Lightning says.

I look at her, curious. "How so?"

Lightning tells me what she knows. About Hope going to Serah for advice, which surprised me at first then I realize it's advice on how to impress a girl, tell her how he feels. Suddenly, I am no longer surprised he went to Serah. As far as I know, Lightning is not the romantic type.

Then there was the part when Lightning mentioned that Serah told Hope to give the girl he's crushing on some flowers.

"Did he give you the flowers?" I ask.

Lightning crosses her arms. "Well...sort of. He didn't give them to me PERSONALLY. He just left them on my bed." Lightning reaches into her pocket then hands out a card in front of me. "Along with this."

I take the card and read it. I notice it says 'Thanks for everything. I'm glad to have you in my life.' But that doesn't convince me. I think it over for a moment.

"Well, I do see your and Serah's point in all of this." I lower the card. "But I'm not convinced just yet. What Hope said on the card could mean anything."

Lightning raises an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Well, for one thing, it was a special night. Given to he wrote 'Happy New Year' on it. But also, you have done a lot for the kid, ever since we became l'Cies." I cross my arms, looking down a bit envious. "It's not fair if you ask me."

"Yes, yes. I'm aware of the promise you made to Nora. But you still are protecting him, right?" Lightning asks.

I look up at her. "More then that log head Snow is, that's for certain."

"Right...Anyway, I thought of the same thing that night. But from what Serah told me, it starts to make sense." Lightning says.

I'm silent for the moment. "Well, I'm still not convinced. I mean, a boy crushing on an older woman, it is a common fact, but I think Hope is different." Personally, I think he's more directed to Serah or Vanille since they're a closer age for him. I let out a sigh. "But, still. If you want my opinion. Just be honest with Hope, tell him that you're just not interested. However, I could suggest going easy on him, let him down gently."

Lightning crosses her arms. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you know how you turn down on every other guy asking you out?" Lightning nods. "You gotta be the opposite of that...not the date the guy part, just don't be cold or harsh. Some guys, even when their kids, can be senstive about their feelings."

"Well I doubt Hope is really going to burst into tears over one little rejection." Lightning says.

"And yet you come to me for advice." I say. Lightning gives me a like that shows she's annoyed to hear that. "Well it is true that Hope has toughen up over the year, but that doesn't mean his feelings for girls have."

"Hmm..." Lightning looks to the side, staring at the river. "You may have a point."

Lightning and I are silent for a moment, then we turn to see Noel approaching before us. He seems a bit disappointed. "Noel. Any luck?" I ask.

"Nope. No woman with a Lindzel tattoo. What about you two?" Noel asks.

"Likewise." Lightning answers.

"You guys don't think the murderer escape the city?" Noel wonders.

"That can't be possible. The city is on lockdown, and she couldn't have escaped before it did." I say.

Noel was just about to speak, then the clock tower all the way in the Holy Distract goes off. It only rings once. The three of us looks at the clock tower from the distance. From here, the clock is about the size of a wrist watch. We can barely see it, but it reads '5:30'. "It's nearly six. We should probably get to The Banquet."

Lightning nods in agreement. "Noel, can you pick up Yuki?" Noel nods and we depart separate ways.

Lightning and I head to The Banquet to prepare reservations while Noel escorts Yuki. Hopefully the young lady is feeling better to be able to explain a few things. The Banquet is a popular restaurant in Luxerion, takes place in the Southern Distract.

We both now wait at a table by the window, Lightning and I are sitting next to each other, while Noel and Yuki are going to be sitting across from us. I check my wrist watch, it's five minutes to six. By then, Noel and Yuki have arrived. Yuki sits in front of me while Noel is next to the window.

She seems a little better, she doesn't look horrified but more sadden. "Order whatever you like, ms. Sapphire. We'll pay for it." I say.

Lightning gives me a smack in the back on the head. "I am not paying for her meal. You do it!" Lightning whispers irritated.

"She had a loss, give her a break. Besides, do you want the information or not?" I shot at her. My whispered quietly I just hope Yuki didn't hear it. Lightning just humphs and crosses her arms.

I look back at Yuki, who nods. "Thank you for your generosity."

We all order our meals: Yuki orders the Deep Fried Niblet Hairballs. Noel has the Starfish and Chips. Lightning has the Spicy Behebudger with salad and I order the Seafood Stuffed Sahagin.

The waiter takes out menus and leaves. While we're waiting for our meals, Lightning and I start the conversation with Yuki.

"Tell us, do you or Andrew have anything to do with PSICOM?" Lightning asks.

Yuki nods. "Yeah. Back on Cocoon, Andrew use to be a member of an old rebellion group known as PRISM. Standed for PSICOM Rebels In Seeking Miracles."

"I've never heard of that group." Lightning says.

"I have. I worked with them, once." I say.

Lightning looks at me. "Really?"

I nod. "It was an invasion mission three years ago in the Laboratory Power Plant near the Grapha Whitewood. A few citizens from Palumpolum were taken for experiement test subjects."

"What was the experiement?" Lightning asks.

"I can't say for sure. It was a head on mission. We just got in, set the bombs, grab the vitcims and get out." I say.

"To think all of that trouble PSICOM as caused right under our noses." Lightning says. "Were there any PSICOM survivors of that explosion?"

"Unlikely. The whole building was blown to smithereens." I say.

"I see..." Lightning turns her attention back to Yuki. "Were there any other missions this PRISM group did against PSICOM?"

"Not that I am aware of, we've only been together for a year, before even the fall of Cocoon happened." Yuki says.

"What about after the fall? Did he happen to do any problem causing for PSICOM?" I ask.

Yuki shook her head. "No...I don't think so...but..."

Lightning and I become curious hearing this. "What is it?" I ask.

"Just this morning, Andrew and I were going on a walk, then we found a PSICOM trooper wondering around the streets. The trooper was carrying a crate of some sort." Yuki says.

While the conversation is going on, a hooded figure is sitting not too far from us. The figure slightly turns her head over her shoulder, barely getting a view of us. She does hear part of the conversation we're having.

"A crate you say?" I ask.

"Yes. He wondered if they were up to something. So he decided to follow, telling me to go back to the inn." Yuki says.

The hooded figure looks ahead, noticing a large meal tray, that's holding our foods, is placed by the table. The hooded figure gets up and walks towards it. She notices the Seafood Stuffed Sahagin. She looks back at the table.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You are so prdictable, sometimes, boy." The figure says in a quiet tone.

She takes out a small vial, which is filled with yellow liquid, turns the tip and poor a few tiny drops on the Sahagin, then she moves away, just in time for the waiter to pick up the tray of meals.

"Whatever's in that crate probably has some secrets." Lightning says.

"And they didn't want anyone to know about it." I say. Lightning nods in agreement.

"So you're saying that they killed Andrew cause he was interfering on classified stuff?" Noel asks.

"It's possible. We need to find that crate and see what it contains." Lightning says.

Just then, our meal arrives. We slowly dine in on our food. Noel didn't go slowly, for he's the only one who isn't cautious and alert or depressed. As we eat, I start to feel a little weird. At first, I ignore it, but it got worse. I start off with a small cough, then it gets rough and heavier. Noel, Yuki and Lightning takes notice. Yuki and Noel starts to worry.

"You okay?" Noel asks.

"What's the matter?" Yuki asks. My hands go to my throat. I try to speak, but only coughs and gasps come out of my mouth. "Is he choking?" Yuki asks Noel.

I collapse from the table to the floor, now Lightning starts to worry, though she's not really showing it through expression. The other costumers and waiters are taking notice of this little scene. The hooded figure just sits by, smirking with her exposed mouth.

Lightning just looks down at me as she sits. My face turns red and swells up a little, that surprises her. "What?" Lightning looks back at my meal. She thinks it could be poison, but what kind of poison causes swelling? Cautiously, she takes a piece of the Seafood Stuffed Sahagin and takes a bite.

It doesn't taste poisonous, but to her surprise, it's something just as bad. The taste of it is very faint, but she recognizes it. "Pineapple." She whispers in horror. She looks back at me and takes action. "He's having a reaction! Everyone get away!"

Lightning pushes everybody away from me. My reaction goes worse. With no hesitation, she digs into one of my pouches, taking out a syringe. Instantly, she jabs it into my shoulder arm. In no time, the swelling goes down. I inhale a gasp then let out some coughing.

After a moment of filling my lungs, I start to get up, only to my knees, with Yuki and Noel's help. "You okay, mister?" Yuki asks.

"Just take it easy." Noel says.

Noel and Yuki helps me sit down back on the sits. Lightning's expression is filled with rage as she marches to the waiter, grab him by the uniform and pin him against the wall. "Why the hell did you put Pineapple in his food!"

The waiter looks completely horrified. "I-I didn't! The meal doesn't come with pineapple!"

"Then how do you explain-" Lightning stops talking just as something suspicious was caught in the corner of her eye. She looks by the exit. Someone has left, but she was able to see a black cape. She releases her grip on the waiter, not even paying attention. "Noel! I'm leaving you with Yuki and Patrick!"

Noel is surprised to her that, then looks to see Lightning is already rushing out of the restaurant. "Lightning! Wait!" Noel says as a waiter hands me a glass of water.

Lightning bursts through the door, into the outside. She immediately stops the moment she's outside to take a look around the Southern Distract. She sees a couple of people wondering or hanging around, but none of them are wearing the black hood cape.

Lightning catches the hoooded figured within her sight, though the figure is a distance away heading towards the Holy Distract. She heads in that direction. "Hold it right there!" She shouts.

Many of the citizens who Lightning was running past stops, for they were thinking she was talking to them, but realized she wasn't when she ran past each of them.

Lightning runs fast to catch up to the hooded figured. The figure runs up on the long path, Pilgrim's Causeway, and Lightning follows her on it. The path leads all the way to the Old Town. By the time Lightning arrives in the area, she lost the hooded figured.

She quickly looks all around, wondering where the figure could have gone. Lightning looks down to see a shadow running across above the shadow building. She looks up to see the hooded figure is up there.

Lightning quickly climbs up on the ladder to the rooftop of the buildings then chase after the hooded figure. Lightning gets closer. When she's within twenty yards, she shifts her weapon into a gun and start shooting.

What surprises her is that the bullets didn't hit her, but hit a barrier that's protecting the figure. "What the..." The figure did not use a Manadrive to shield herself, which only means one thing: "A protection spell?" Lightning asks. She was too caught by surprise to do anything before the hooded figure jumps down.

Lightning leaps downwards, from fire escape, to the ledge, to building tarrace until she lands right in an ally of the Warren area. Lightning looks around, to see nothing here.

"Where are you?" She whispers.

As Lightning takes slow steps around, she gets ambushed. The hooded figure grabs her from behind, an arm around her neck and the other grabbing her wrist, holding her arm back.

Lightning stomps on the figures foot, causing her to loosen her grip on Lightning. Lightning quickly turns, jumps back and holds her Gunblade out. The hooded figure takes out some metal rod, positioning herself to strike.

"You'll pay for the trouble you've caused!" Lightning says.

Lightning throws a couple of swings with her weapon on the hooded figure. The figure dodges each of Lightning's attacks. The figure strikes at Lightning in between her strikes. Lightning either dodges or parries the attack before her next swing.

Lightning and the figure parries each others attack, their weapons clashed against each other. They are at a stand still, until the figure jabs her knees into Lightnings stomach. Lightning staggers a bit from the impact, the hooded figure leaps back, taking out a pistol gun shooting in midair.

The moment Lightning saw the gun come out, she acts fast in deflecting the bullets and running towards the figure. When Lightning's about twenty yards close, the figure channels some magic out of her left hand then casts a Ruin spell.

Lightning was surprised to see this, and she strikes at the magic orb, causing a large smoke like a Ruinga does. The figure couldn't see anything, but is on alert when she see Lightning coming out of the magic smoke, charging towards her with a yell.

Lightning makes a strike with her weapon, but at the last second, the hooded figure moves aside, dodging the attack. Now Lightning is heading towards a wall, which she starts running up it and leaps back after six feet off the ground. She lands right behind the hooded figure, then sweep kicks her to falling on the ground.

The hooded figure turns on her back to be greeted by a Gunblade right in her hooded face. "Who are you?" Lightning asks in interrogation.

The hooded figure lets out a soft chuckle as she turns on the electric rod in her hand, and shocks Lightning with it. Lightning screams in pain from the rod, then the hooded figure sweep kicks her of the ground and makes a run for it.

Lightning now lays on the floor, watching the figure escape. By the time she's on her knees, it's too late. The figure's gone. Lightning smashes her fist on the ground in frustration.

"Damn it!"

In the Old Town Inn, Noel is pacing around waiting. I am sitting on the couch with a cover on my back and shoulders. Yuki walks right in handing me a cup of tea.

The door opens and we all look to see it's Lightning, looking down in defeat. "What happened?" Noel asks.

Lightning looks up at us. "The murder got away. I had her, then she escaped." We were surprised to hear that, mostly me.

"That's tough. How come she only poisoned Patrick?" Noel asks.

"It wasn't poison." Lightning corrects Noel. "It was pineapple." My eyes shot wide open hearing that word. Noel just looks confused. "Patrick is dangerously allergic to Pineapple. The figure probably overheard us and slipped some juice of it into the meal."

Noel looks at me. "You didn't even realized it when you tasted it?"

"I've ever even eaten pineapple, even just touching a single drop puts me into reaction. I don't know how it tastes, just by look and smell." I turn my attention to Lightning. "What doesn't make sense is that how could the murder know I was allergic?"

"It could either have been someone you know, or maybe the figure just knows her enemies." Lightning says.

"Well, I don't know anybody who knew about this, well in living that is." I say.

"Yeah, well that's not the only thing. This criminal is really a l'Cie." Lightning says.

We're all caught by surprise to hear that. "A l'Cie? You mean a Pulse l'Cie?" Yuki asks.

Lightning shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Smith back at the weapons shop mentioned the person having a tattoo that looks like the mark of Lindzel. When I encountered her, she used magic to both shield herself and to attack me. So it wasn't a tattoo, it's a brand."

"You sure? Wasn't she using a manadrive or something?" I ask.

Lightning shook her head. "Nope. No manadrive. Just magic. Which means we're dealing with a Cocoon l'Cie."

We are pretty speechless hearing this. "But...that doesn't make any sense. How can there be Cocoon l'Cie? The Cocoon Fal'Cie died off when we defeated Orphan." I say.

"I don't know. But something doesn't seem right around here." Lightning says.

"It could be possible this is Bhunivelze's doing. I mean, PSICOM did start using his mark as their symbol." Noel says.

"If it is, wouldn't the brand look like his mark inside of Cocoon?" Lightning asks.

Noel realizes Lightning might be right. "I'm so sorry for dragging you all into this." Yuki says with guilt.

"Don't sweat it. We would have been anyways." Lightning says. "Yuki, would you mind telling us where this crate is that PSICOM trooper was carrying?"

Yuki thinks for a moment. "I don't know where it's at exactly, but...When we saw him, he was heading into the Forsaken Graveyard.

"All right. We'll head in there for clues. Maybe it can uncover all this confusion." Lightning says.

I shook my head. "I'm not going. I'm saying right here."

Lightning looks at me with a serious look and bossy tone. "You are a member of ORPHAN. You are coming along."

"I'm not facing that poison carrying manic." I say.

Lightning rolls her eyes. 'not this again' "Quit complaning!"

Noel stands close to Lightning, speaking softly to her. "Uh, Lightning. I think it might be best if he does stay, just so he could recover from his...reaction. Plus, at least one of us should stay here and protect Yuki in case any trouble comes."

Lightning looks at Noel with irritation. She realizes that he is right, then lets out a sigh. "Fine!" Lightning turns and heads out the door, with Noel following her from behind.

Night time falls. While Lightning and Noel are making their way to the Forsaken Graveyard, the hooded figure is in the ally in the Warren. She is right now talking to someone on her earphone.

"I have sent out the calling." The figure says.

"Excellent." The voice on the other end is in deep modification.

"But I should warn you, General Farron and the Shadow Hunter of ORPHAN are here. Should we call off the purge?" The figure asks.

"No. We still proceed with the plan, Director." The voice says.

"Understood." The hooded figure removes her earphone. She sets it to a different caller then put it back on. "The purge is still on, we strike at midnight. Ready yourselves."

"Roger, Director." A PSICOM member says on the other line.

In the northwest part of Luxerion lays the Forsaken Graveyard. It's an area where the dead are rested. Some people are usually afraid coming here cause it's also crawling with monsters. Mostly in the night.

Lightning and Noel arrive at the front gates of the dread eerie place. "I don't remember this being here." Noel says.

"It's the one place in this city that was left untouched during the construction." Lightning says.

Lightning approaches to the gates and opens it, then she and Noel walks right in. "What's with your friend back there? Being afraid to come along all cause of an allergy reaction? Is he also like that?"

"Not really. In fact, this is the second time it happned. The first time was when he jumped into my arms back in the Fal'Cie vestiage." Lightning looks at Noel and speaks before he even has a chance to ask. "Don't ask."

Lightning and Noel journeys through the Forsaken Graveyard in search for the crate Yuki mentioned. It's going to be a hard search since it's mostly likely buried and in this place...well, there's a lot of buried spots.

No wonder a PSICOM member picked this place.

After the light of the city is out of reach, Lightning takes out a flashlight to light the way. To their luck, the flashlight reveals a large gray dragon creature. Zomok.

Lightning and Noel were surprised by the beast appearing from the darkness right in front of them. The Zomok swipes its paw, only to be missed as Lightning and Noel leaps backwards. They take out their weapons and fight the creature.

Lightning fights it off with her Ravager magic while Noel attacks head on in Commando. The Zomok uses its wind magic on Lightning and Noel. (A/N: I honestly don't remember some of the creatures attacks. But it's basically the same as the Zomoks in Lightning Returns.)

The battle was tough, but Lightning and Noel finishes it off, with Lightning shoot at the creature and Noel jamming his swords into the monsters stomach. The Zomok roars in agony then its dead body collapses.

"What was that? I've never seen anything like it." Noel asks.

"How the heck should I know? Everyone but Fang and Vanille were born and raised on Cocoon." Lightning says.

"I see." Noel says.

Lightning and Noel continues on in the Forsaken Graveyard, taking on any Gaunts, Zomoks, Skeletons and Zaltys in the way.

"Hey, you are close with Patrick?" Noel asks.

Lightning seems on alert hearing that. "What do you mean by that?" She asks hoping he doesn't mean anything romantic related.

"Well...it's just that you two seem close to me. I mean, you work together, seem cold sometimes, usually focused. Not to mention you both have matching necklesses." Noel says.

Lightning looks down until the necklace is in her vision. Then back at Noel. "It's nothing serious like." She says hostile. Noel seems a bit alert, like she was about to hurt him. She clears her throat. "Sorry. I didn't mean to get hostile like that."

"Uh...right." Noel calms down from his nerve. "So...my question."

A Gaunt jumps right in front of Noel and Lightning. They were both startled and Lightning kills it with one swing of her weapon.

"Well, we are friends and partners, but I wouldn't say we're close." Lightning says. "Well, he might but I wouldn't. In fact, when I first met him, I hated him."

Noel looks surprised to hear that. "Why? What did he do? Anything like that Snow feller?"

"No. It wasn't really what he did, more like who he was. Back on Cocoon, he was a mercenary and...well."

Before Lightning continues, Noel speaks. "I get it. Mercenaries can almost never be trusted." Lightning looks at Noel almost like she never expected to hear him say that. "Back in my day, I worked with a couple of mercenaries. Nearly half of them betrayed me. One of them mostly cause he was in love with Yeul."

"Two men fighting for one girl." Lightning looks ahead. "Figures. But I'll admit, me and Patrick, we are alike in some ways. Back on Lake Bresha, Vanille even mentioned we were like twins."

Noel laughs a little hearing that. "I can't say I'm surprised she would think that."

"Right." Lightning and Noel arrives at the memorial area of the Forsaken Graveyard (A/N: Where those Etro worshipers made that Savior sacrifice on Lightning Returns)

The area is filled with the tombstones of the buried bodies. Lightning sure is not happy to see this. "We'll never find that crate." She says.

Noel seems disappointed as well, but then gets an idea. "I think I have an idea. Lightning. When you bury a body, you add a tombstone, right?"

Lightning looks at Noel. "What does that have to do with our situation?"

"When you bury something that isn't a body. Would it really be in front of a tombstone?" Lightning raises and eyebrow hearing it. "Just start looking."

Lightning and Noel starts wondering around. Lightning flashes the flashlight around. She figured what Noel meant is that the buried soil they are looking for wouldn't have tombstone. She certainly starts to believe that when they found something buried in front of a dead oak tree, next to a shovel, and there's no tombstone.

"There." Noel runs up to the tree. He picks up the shovel then starts digging. Lightning stands behind watching the young warrior digging. Noel digs and digs until three feet under, he hits something. "I hit something."

Lightning approaches as Noel reaches in. He starts pulling out a crate. Lightning widens her eyes open. "Well I'll be." She looks at Noel. "I'll admit, Noel. That was clever thinking."

"When living out in the wild, you pick up a few things." Noel says.

"If only the same thing happened to Snow. Now let's see what PSICOM is trying to hide." Lightning says.

They both kneel down, setting the crate on the ground. Noel jabs in his thin sword to pop the lid open. Inside it, there a bunch of papers and files. One at a time, Lightning and Noel takes them out and observes them.

Noel is unfamiliar with the missions and assignments writen on them, but Lightning is. Few of them she had done back on Cocoon, some she prevented PSICOM from doing in the past year.

"Not really sure why our murder would hide these." Noel says.

"Informations are classified. Wither they are recent or old." Lightning says.

"Good to know." Noel founds a picture frame and takes it out. There he sees some boy with his dad. "Huh...I wonder if this was the figures family." Noel shows Lightning the picture. "Hopefully they don't know that she's a criminal."

Seeing the picture, Lightning looks shocked. She grabs the picture frame from Noel getting a close look. "It can't be..."

Noel noticed the shocked expression on Lightning's face. "What is it?"

"This picture...I think this is Patrick." Lightning says.

Now Noel is surprised. "Really?" Noel looks at me in the picture. "Well...he does kind of look like him." Lightning and Noel could hardly tell cause I look younger and I was wearing glasses and braces. "Are you sure?"

"I think so." Lightning points at the necklace I'm wearing in the picture. "That necklace, it's the same diamond heart he wears."

"Don't they make a ton of jewelry like that? It could be just one of them." Noel says.

"True. If we were able to look at the back of the diamond, we would know for sure." Lightning puts the picture back in the crate then continues searching through.

"Why? What's on the back?" Noel asks.

"It's a long story to explain, I'll let Patrick do the explanation." Lightning says.

Noel takes a look inside. As Lightning is scanning through the files, something catches Noels attention. "Hey, look at this."

Lightning sees an old newspaper Noel is taking out. The newspaper is dated seven years ago in Leronde. Lightning raises and eyebrow reading the location. "Leronde?"

"That's that?" Noel asks.

"One of the places back on Cocoon. It was an island town." Lightning says. "I've never been there, but I have heard it was a lovely place for rest and relaxtion, almost like Bodhum. It also had a mining facility." Lightning notices the date. "That's odd. It's dated days before the town shut down."

Lightning takes the newspaper and looks over it. Noel gets a view of it from over Lightnings shoulder. When Lightning reaches the front cover, she is shocked.

On the front page is a picture of a Cocoon Cie'th, dead on the ground in its own purple blood. The Cie'th is a man, face half covered in Crystal, with a massive right Cie'th arm and the mark of a Cie'th eye on its chest. The highline says 'BODY OF CIE'TH FOUND'.

"A dead Cie'th? That's insane." Noel says.

Lightning recgonizes that Cie'th, even behind the crystal dreaded face. It's an image of the man from the photo. "It can't be...no way."

Lightning moves to the news article on the side.

_'Leronde Sanctum Update:_

_This morning, the body of a Cie'th, which what once was a Cocoon l'Cie, was found in the residence home inside the city of Leronde. No one knows how this happened. PSICOM Colonel Jihl Nabaat has a few words to share. "I once knew this man who became a l'Cie. We've been really close lately. He also had a son. He never really approved of me, kept thinking I was trying to replace his mother. I don't know what gave him a silly idea I was dating his dad. Kids, am I right?" The boy who also lived in this house was no where to be found. Experts say that it is possible the Cie'th killed him, but there was no body of the boy to be found. It's very strange indeed.'_

"This is about Patrick all right." Lightning says.

"What makes you say that?" Noel asks.

Lightning explains to Noel what happened about my past, how my father became a Cie'th and I killed him. The news on this article shows explains every detail of what happened.

"Oh man, that's just horrible." Noel says.

"It is. Even I felt bad, and I still didn't really like him back then." Lightning looks back at the Newspaper. "So this explains what happened in Leronde. Patrick killed his father and then PSICOM must have done a purge to the city. I didn't even know Patrick came from Leronde. Between that to Bodhum, that's like halfway around the world."

Lightning folds up the newspaper and puts it down. "Well, now I don't blame him for cutting himself like that."

Lightning gives a disappointed look to Noel. "Well it's still not right for him to punish himself like that."

Noel looks back in the crate. "Whatever you say." Noel searchs through until he finds some old journal. The pages he looks over are ruined, hard to make out. He flips through the pages until he finds one that isn't destroyed. He carefully reads it.

"I think you should see this." Noel says.

Lightning takes the book and looks at the page. What she didn't expect is the title of the chapter say's reading.

"Experiment 471/CC-9"

"An experiment?" Lightning says confused.

She looks at Noel, confused, then back at the book and begins reading.

'The l'Cies are slaves to the Fal'Cie, to either protect or destroy Cocoon, bounded by a single Focus. With that Focus, they only have two choices that would depend on their lives: Complete it or turn Cie'th. But I wonder what will happen if a l'Cie is given a Focus that would end up hurting their loved ones.'

Lightning turns the pages and continues reading.

'Test Subject number one of the experiment. My ideals were orgrinally on the boy, but the father volunteered when he heard about it. How intriguing. The father being the l'Cie without the son not ever knowing what's going on, or what will happen.

The father, now a l'Cie, lives on a normal life. The Focus he is given is yet to be complete. He knows all to well of what his Focus is. Day after day, he refuses to complete it. Does the father really rather live the rest of his life as a monster then to kill his own son?'

Lightning and Noel are frozen in horror seeing those last few words. 'Kill his own son.' "Kill him?" Noels voice was horased saying that. "That's just terrible." Noel looks at Lightning, noticing her expression is shocked. "Did you know about that?"

Lightning shook her head. "Patrick never said anything about this. In fact, I starting to wonder if he does know about it."

"I'm kind of afraid to find out what happens next." Noel says.

Lightning looks at Noel. "I am as well, but we can't chicken out."

Lightning continues reading.

'Two weeks. The brand shows that his time is near, but still. He simply refuses to complete it, and now he has turned Cie'th. Mindless and Monstrious, he attacks his own son. The boy, horrified, confused and lost, didn't know what to do. He tried to make his father come to his senses, but only ends up being beaten without mercy.

My theory was proven to be correct. It seems the fate of a l'Cie cannot be broken by family. The father may have proven me wrong by denying his Focus, but the son didn't when he took out a knife to murder his own father.

What fine specimans for my research. It's like I always say: "For every task...there's a perfect tool."'

Lightning and Noel are speechless at what they are writing. To Lightning, what she didn't expect to see if the name of a certain someone who was behind the experiement, written rigt underneath the final sentence.

'Jihl Nabaat'


	9. Luxerion part II

A/N: Shocking, isn't it? Learning about my dark past, huh? If only Square Enix would have thought of something like that for their Final Fantasy own games, but I guess not. Then again, what do I know? I've only played VII and XIII and I know little of X and VII. Instead they had to go and get crazy with that whole Bhunivelze nonsense. I'm not really going against Square Enix, I just don't understand what they were thinking.

Chapter 5: Luxerion

* * *

Lightning and Noel are completely speechless. Right in front of them, inside a journal, are words forming into an entry that they cannot believe that happened to me. Noel is mostly surprised since he wasn't around to hear the story, unlike how Lightning and Hope were back on Cocoon.

Noel let out a breath that he didn't even realize he was holding when Lightning speaks in an aggressive tone.

"Jihl...I should have known this was your doing." Lightning says.

"Who's Jihl?" Noel asks.

Lightning looks at Noel to answer that. "Jihl was a Colonel that worked with PSICOM back on Cocoon. She doesn't really care about anything but her own success in protecting Cocoon. I even heard how she used Sazh's son to track us down."

"Well, she does sound like a devious person." Noel realizes something. "Wait. You don't think she's the hooded figure we're after?"

Lightning shook her head. "No, she can't be. She died on the Palamecia when that Fal'Cie Barthandelus revealed himself."

"I see." Noel says.

Lightning looks back in the journal. "Patrick has a deep hatred over Jihl. Probably ten times worse then he does with Snow. Now I see why."

"Yeah. I know I would be if it were me. I would probably have her head mounted on a wall." Noel says.

Lightning closes the journal and puts it back in the crate. "For once, I'm glad Patrick stayed behind. I know he wouldn't want to relive his endurement." Lightning looks at Noel. "If he asks, we didn't find this."

Noel asks. Noel digs into the crate, then takes out a mission document. As he reads it, he seems a bit concern.

"Hey, check this out." Lightning takes the note. She seems supicious to read the title: Cocoon's revival.

'_When the fall happened, we were all betrayed. Citizens turned our backs on us. Half of our team left us. Fal'Cie loses all their power, weakening until their point of death. Cocoon is gone and now we are trapped in this living Hell of a planet. During his near death, The Fal'Cie Eden saw a higher truth when a man known as Caius appeared out of no where.'_

Lightning raised an eyebrow, looking confused. "Eden?" Then continues reading.

_'To his final breath, Eden made Caius a l'Cie and give him a simple order to follow. With Orphan gone, the Fal'Cie we depend our very lifes upon are gone. All but one, thanks to Caius. With the Fal'Cie on our side, Cocoon will be reborn and all of the traitors on this dark world will pay. Especially the l'Cies who took everything from us.'_

"All but one...Eden." Lightning whispers.

"A Cocoon Fal'Cie survivor? How is that possible?" Noel asks.

Lightning thinks for a moment. "Well, maybe it means that the Fal'Cie could have found a new source of power. Back on Cocoon, Orphan was the very battey that ran everything. The Fal'Cie. The Sanctum. The whole world of Cocoon."

Noel catches on what Lightning is saying, then gets an idea. "If that is the case, then it could be that the Fal'Cie might found a new power source. Probably with Bhunivelze, which might explain why PSICOM are using his mark of brand."

"Maybe...it's possible." Lightning says. Then she continues reading.

'_We, PSICOM, and the all-powerful l'Cie, Caius, are entrusted by the last Cocoon Fal'Cie to restore Cocoon to its former glory. Caius is instructed to look for something known as "Seeress" while we investigate the ruins of a city known as 'Paddra'. With the power of the Goddess Etro, we will destroy Grand Pulse._'

"Seeress? You think it could be Yeul?" Lightning asks.

"I hope not. Cause her in the hands of people like them...I can't imagine what will happen to her." Noel says.

"You have no idea." Lightning glues her eyes to the Paddra writing. "Paddra...what would that city have to do with the Goddess?"

"Paddra is were people on Grand Pulse worship the Goddess, along with Kuchinashi." Noel thinks. "But the gain Etro's power...hmm...I don't remember anything like that."

Lightning looks down at the document to see a list of purged cities. Some she realizes, others she doesn't. There is one labeled 'New Bodhum' but has been crossed out instead of checked like the others above it.

Lightning wonders what it could have meant, she doesn't recall any of PSICOM attacking New Bodhum. But she realized it would that night when the barrier went down since it was Caius's doing.

Right underneath New Bodhum has Lightning on alert. It's the name of the next city that remains unpurged.

Luxerion.

"Luxerion? That's we were are right now." Lightning says.

"It's not even checked out. Which means it hasn't happened." Noel says. "When do you think it'll happen?"

Lightning thinks for a moment. She has a theory, but was cut off by the distance sound of the clock tower going off.

Lightning counts the tolls.

_One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten...eleven...twelve...thirteen._

'It's midnight' She thought.

Soon after the final toll, the moonlight starts to fade and shadows takes it place. Lightning and Noel notices and looks up. In the skies are airships, old Cocoon airships that are operated by PSICOM.

"I'm guessing right about now." Lightning says.

Spotlights are turned on, searching all around. When two land on Lightning and Noel, PSICOM troopers slides down on some rope. They land on the ground, holding their guns out aimed at them.

Lightning and Noel take out their weapons, preparing for battle.

Troopers shoots at them. Noel defends himself in his Sentinel role while Lightning charges, dodging and deflecting the bullets. When she gets close, she starts cutting them down. Noel shifts back into Commando and joins Lightning on the attack as well.

The PSICOM troopers were defeated easily, nothing but small fry against ORPHAN General and some Gran Pulse hunter.

Lightning and Noel looks up, seeing the airships heading towards the city of Luxerion. "This is bad." Noel says.

"Very." Lightning adds.

Airships hover over the large city. The citizens down below look up, concern and then afraid of the invasion. PSICOM soldiers and troopers jump down. The populace starts panicking, and PSICOM starts attacking.

Few airships land in the each of the districts of Luxerion, any of the citizens PSICOM has captured, they start loading them into the ships, captured. Any of them resisting arrest, they will be killed.

ORPHAN troopers starts fighting back, even greatly out numbered against the army. Protecting the citizens of the city is their task.

PSICOM Troops slides down from the rope to the streets of the Old Town. Some of them invade the inn. Few slides down and break into the windows into the rooms on higher ground.

PSICOM Troopers stand in place, guns aim and loaded and the lights attached to them on. The room is empty, but they're not convinced, they begin thoroughly searching.

Yuki and I are hiding in the cloest. There's no door but we're out of PSICOM's sight. It's a bit tight in the corner, I even had to hold on to Yuki in my arms. The poor girl is scared. As we look at each other, I put a finger on my lips, giving a slight pucker. Yuki understands what I'm saying and nods. Telling her to stay quiet.

I take out a throwing star, holding it in front to the side, adjusting so I can see through the reflection. I can barely see the PSICOM Troopers standing under a chandelier. I wait paiently for them to turn their backs on us. The second they do, I quickly stick out and throw the throwing star, then bolt back out of sight.

The throwing star cuts the line and the chandelier falls and crashes on the two troopers beneath it. The crash distracts the rest of the PSICOM team in the room. When they're focusing on the crash, I mouth 'go' at Yuki and we both rush out of the closet into the hallway.

The hallway is empty, but also dark. PSICOM must have also cut the power in this building. The Inn wasn't very big, so we made it to the lobby in no time. Only when we were at the door, we are greeted by bright lights and over dozens of laser pointers at us. We jump out of the sight the very second they start firing at us.

"We're doomed! We can't escape and we won't survive that army." Yuki says.

"I won't count on it." I say, focusing my eyes on the exit. In the minute, the raid of bullets ends. I stand up, looking back down at Yuki. "No matter what happens, stay down!"

Yuki nods in worry. Slowly, I reveal myself to the PSICOM troops, walking out in the open with my hands behind my back. They all aim their guns at me, I practally covered in red dots. "Don't shoot! I surrender!"

They didn't fire, but they didn't lower their weapons. "He's lying. Never trust an ORPHAN." The Commander says to his troops. The Commander looks directly at me. "If you really do surrender, drop whatever's behind your back and put your hands in the air!"

I'm sure whatever he thinks I'm holding isn't real to him. Basically, he really thinks I'm holding nothing but he's just making sure if case I was to him. If he is thinking that I'm holding nothing, then he's stupid. In my hands, I'm holding my l'Cie black arrow crystal.

I give a small smirk. "If you say so, officer." I drop the crystal right behind me, then slowly raise my hands in the air.

Nothing else happens for the moment, but just as the Commande approaches me, I slide my foot back, raise the heel until it's above the crystal, and crush it.

The ground shakes and magic contained from the crystal is unleashed. All the PSICOM troops staggers from the quake. A summoning circle appears underneath me, then a large sphere that contains the Eidolon, Omega Weapon.

Force of wind blows around from the spheres arrival, then even more winds are unleashed when it explodes and Omega Weapon is unleashed.

The Eidolon stands right behind me, facing the PSICOM army. It's growling, wanting to attack but it can't unless I say so. The PSICOM troops recover from the summoning, and thry aim their guns at us.

We're all at a stand still, frozen in place, until I give a single command.

"Flatten them." Omega Weapon roars and attacks the army.

Most them of them focus on the Eidolon, while few focuses on me. The troopers shoots at me. I avoid bullets, dodging them before they make contact. During my movements, I throw Throwing Stars, some to direct them, some to hurt them. When in the clear, I start shooting them with my bow and arrows.

Lightning and Noel still stand in the Forsaken Graveyard, watching the warships invade the City of Light.

"This is bad. We've got to do something." Noel says.

"We'll have to drive them out. But first things first, we must return to the Inn for Patrick and Yuki." Lightning says.

Without any further hesitation, Lightning and Noel heads back to Luxerion.

They didn't encounter any trouble until they arrive at the gates, there are some Wasps and a Proto-Behemoth awaiting for them. Getting back to the Inn isn't going to be easy for Lightning and Noel.

They head for the Northern Station then take the path into the Old Town. They face countless waves of PSICOM enemies, including the robotic tamed creatures and Cybugs. They arrive at the Inn, where they find many PSICOM corpses and me, on my knees panting in exhaustion and agony.

"Patrick." Noel and Lightning rushes to my side. Lightning heals me up with her Cure spells, then I'm back on my feet. "You okay?" Noel asks.

"I'm fine, it's nothing I can't handle." I say.

"Don't get cocky. Where's Yuki?" Lightning asks.

I turn my attention to the Inn, where Yuki comes out in the opening. "She's alright." I say. "What's going on here? Another PSICOM Purge?"

"It seems that way. We found the crate the trooper buried." Noel says.

"There was hardly anything important in it. All we found was a doucment with a list of places PSICOM was purging, including this city." Lightning says.

"And I'm guessing that is what's happening right now. We gotta stop PSICOM." I say.

"On the way here, we caught a few airships around the city, where PSICOM are loading everyone in. If we take them out, then the whole invasion will collapse." Noel says.

Lightning and I agrees. "Yuki. Head for the Cathedral. You should be safe there in the meantime." Lightning tells her.

Yuki nods then takes off. Lightning gives out an order, telling ORPHAN troopers to head and guard the Cathedral and everyone in there. With that done, we get started on taking care of the situation.

We follow Yuki all the way to the Holy Distract, just to make sure she reaches to the church safely. We fight the soldiers and troopers in the way.

One of the airships is in the Holy Distract. We have to take on a couple of PSICOM members to get to it. Their attacks hardly do much harm to us with my Protect spell on us.

The soldiers comes right out of the airships to take us on. "Keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Noel asks.

"You're starting to sound like Snow." Lightning says.

Lightning and Noel fights the soldiers head on. I just run back, trying to get out of range so I can shoot them. I often use my throwing stars to distract them. I sometimes envy Lightning and Noel for having swords. Other times I regrat throwing away that dagger I use to carry.

When we defeated the soldiers, we get into the warship. Noel and I free the citizens while Lightning takes some bombs within the weapon cargo to blow the airship.

Luckily we made it out before the explosion happened.

"Is everyone all right?" I ask. Few people answered fine, many terrified, others stay silent. They're all right. "Head to the Cathedral. You should be safe there."

Everyone quickly hurries onto the Cathedral, while Lightning, Noel and I move on to the Southern Distract. Cybugs, Patherons and PSICOM Aerial Snipers are on the path we take. We end up fighting them. I handle the Snipers, shooting them. Sometimes I miss, but I manage to defeat them, by kill or by hitting their rocket pack, causing it to go haywire. They should stick to being ground troopers.

After taking out three wave of enemies, we arrive at the Southern Distract. Citizens are just get loaded up on the airship, that's when we dive in.

"ORPHAN soldiers! Open fire!" The PSICOM Executioner takes out his lance and charges at us.

In my Sabotuer Role, I weaken his defenses with Deprotect then cast Slow on him. Noel attacks the armored soldier, PSICOM Executioner. I shift back into Commando and shoot at the troopers by the airship.

I finish off the Executioner. With him down, the citizens were able to escape. Noel decides to escort the citizens to the Cathedral since it's now a long way. Not long-long but long enough for PSICOM to take capture them before reaching the church.

Lightning and I finish off all the PSICOM troopers before we blew up the airship. When Noel returns, we head up to the Arcade area. The PSICOM troopers and Aerial Snipers attacks us from there. We fight back, I handle the Aerial Snipers.

They fought hard, but Lightning keeps us alive by healing in her Medic role. After defeating them, we take the moment to catch our breath.

"What is the deal with these PSICOM guys?" Noel asks. "I mean, why purge eveybody."

"Back on Cocoon, the Purge was said to be meant to cleanse Cocoon from the tainted scums of Pulse." That was hurtful to Noel, even coming from Lightning. "But in truth, all they do is kill the innocent."

"Back in the Hanging Edge, they were suppose to deliver the Pulse Fal'Cie in the Bodhum Vestiage back to Pulse, but instead they tried to destroy it." I say. "Now they just use the Purge to kidnap the innocent."

"To what? Kill them?" Noel asks, concerned with worry.

"We don't know for sure. So far, they were being used as slaves for the Vestiage a few days ago." Lightning says.

Noel is pretty shocked. "That's just horrible. I mean, why would they still want to destroy Pulse? Aren't they finally free from that Fal'Cie imprisonment?"

"I guess it's the same reason why we choose to protect Orphan when our focus was meant to destroy it. They choose their own fate." Lightning says.

When we were done with the conversation, we continue on. We arrive at the Residence Distract, where two another airships takes place. One of them is loaded and ready for take off. The one near the southern Forsaken Graveyard entrance is still having innocent citizens entering.

PSICOM Soldiers, trackers and Cybugs attacks us. We fight them back, only to quickly realize that their battle against us is meant to buy time. The first airship takes flight and then flies away from Luxerion.

"Damn PSICOM! Damn them all!" Lightning says with anger.

I get how she feels. Seeing the innocent being taken away just makes my blood boil. Reminds me too much of my past with Jihl.

We have no time to worry about the escaped airship, we focus on fightning the PSICOM soldiers that are attacking us. One of the troopers ambushes Lightning from behind. I cast a Protect spell on her, and that blocks the bullets coming right at her, then I shoot that trooper to his death.

When we have defeated PSICOM, Lightning gets everyone out of the airship, leading them to the Cathedral. Noel and I handle destroying the airship.

The Cathedral is now full of citizens. Most of them now stand right outside on the Courtyard. Well, as long as they're within the holy grounds, should be safe enough.

After regrouping, we move to the Northern Station, where we find the next airship. We believe that this could be the last one within the city. There is something different about the commander. He appears to be in some kind of golem suit.

"Well, that's new." I say.

"Can we take him?" Noel asks.

"We might, but it could take too long." Lightning says.

I take a deep look at the area. There is a blind shot in the dark shadows between the accessories shop and the train station.

"I have an idea, but I need you two to create a distraction." I say.

Lightning and Noel rushes in, while I stay behind and move within the shadows. The PSICOM commander sees Lightning and Noel.

"Intruders! Seize them!"

Lightning and Noel are greeted by Patheron's, PSICOM Trackers, Aerial Snipers. While they're fighting, I move swiftly, but stay hidden, to get right behind that commanders point of vision.

Both of them attack strongly in their Commando roles. Lightning starts shooting with her weapon in gun mode at the Aerial Snipers. The snipers shoots back at her, only Lightning dodges them. Noel takes out three troopers, then focuses on the Patheron's.

Soon enough, the enemies are defeated. I reach my destination, then position myself to shoot. Right now I just aim directly at the commanders head, which is the only thing that's exposed in that large robotic battle suit.

"Enough of this!" The commander approaches to lightning and Noel. "I'll finish you two off myself!"

Lightning and Noel arm themselves. The command raises his fists in the air to make the first strike. That's shortly interrupted by an arrow impaled in the back of the head.

The commander falls dead, then I come out of the shadows and approach Lightning and Noel. "Nice one." Noel says.

"They don't call me the Shadow Hunter for nothing." I say.

Lightning just rolls her eyes then turns to the airship. The citizens flees from the airship then we rigged it to explode.

With that done, we escort the citizens to the Cathedral then search around the city, even the Forsaken Graveyard, for any remaining PSICOM members. So far, we have found them in the Arcade, Southern Distracts, the Warehouse, the Warren and the wide nothern area of the Forsaken Graveyard.

None of them really put up much of a fight, guessing they're just rookies or low rankings.

"Think that's the last of them?" Noel asks.

"Possibly. Let's head back to the Cathedral." I say.

So we all head back to the Cathedral. Lightning announces that the situation has been handled and everyone will be able to return to their normal routines. Once the Cathedral is cleared out, we return Yuki to the Inn.

"Thank you so much for saving me." Yuki says with a smile, which seems to be the first time she's done it since we met.

"It was nothing. Just doing our job." I say.

"So, what are you gonna do now, Yuki?" Noel asks.

Her smile disappears. "Well...I guess since the wedding is now off, I'll just take the next train back to Junon."

"It might take a while. The city is still on lockdown until we find that criminal." I say. Yuki nods then heads back into the Inn. "Now, let's get back to work."

We walk around the city as we speak. Right now we're in the side area between the Southern and Holy Districts.

"That invasion...could that have been the figure's doing?" Noel asks.

"What makes you think that?" Lightning asks.

"Well, she has to be a member of PSICOM, cause of that whole being a Cocoon l'Cie. And inside the chest we found where some documents and files about PSICOM stuff, including a list of cities for the Purge." Noel says.

I think for a moment hearing that. "He might be on to something. I'm even starting to think that the figure killed Andrew just because she didn't want him to find out about the Purge." I say.

"Cause if he did, he would have warned everyone." Lightning says. "Makes sense."

"But the only question is: Who could it be?" Noel asks.

That's a mystery to Lightning and I as well. But we think about it. Someone in PSICOM. Female. Evil enough to kill on holy ground. L'Cie. Had my pineapple allergy knowledge. In Lightning's thoughts: Has notes about my past, some of them written by Jihl.

Who could it be?

Our thoughts were interrupted when we hear the sound of loud roaring, coming from engines. We look up to see a massive airship: The Lindblum.

Lightning is surprise to see it. "Is that...the Lindblum?"

I look at Lightning confused. "The what?"

"Lindblum. It was a massive airship the Calvary used as their base back on Cocoon." Lightning says. "I didn't know it survived the fall."

"Could it be ORPHAN? Are they here about that attack?" I ask.

"Doubtful. Raines didn't say anything about having the Lindblum around after the fall." Lightning says.

"PSICOM maybe?" Noel asks.

"Likely." I say. We all watch the base ship flying towards the Cathedral. "Only one way to find out."

We all make our way through the city to head over to the Cathedral. As soon as we arrive at the courtyard, the Lindblum shoots spotlights on the top of the church. There, we see a hooded figre standing on the edge.

That's when we know it's our target.

We hurry into the Cathedral. The Archdeacon tries to stop at first, but we didn't listen, just run right through him then make our way up the stairs.

The Lindblum hovers over the Cathedral. The hooded figure just stands at the edge, facing up. We arrive just in time, before she tries to escape.

"You there! Freeze!" Lightning says.

Lightning and I take out her Gunblade and my bow and arrows. We aim them directly at the figure. Noel just stands behind us, watching the scene. The figure doesn't move, didn't even make a flinch from our unexpected arrival.

"Just who are you?" Lightning asks.

The figure is still silent. After a moment of stillness and silence, the figure removes her hood. So far, we just see long blonde hair. At first, we're alert, then we are shocked when the criminal turns to face us.

"Well, hello there l'Cies. Long time no see." She says with a smirk.

The figure is Jihl Nabaat.

"You?" Lightning asks.

Instantly, my astonish turns into anger. My hands shaking, teeth gritting, eyes turning into fiery rage. I yell as I charge towards Jihl. Just when I'm inches from her, her barrier repels me, and I'm bounced back right in front of Lightnings feet.

"Oh, Patrick. Seven years later, and you still never think do you?" Jihl says.

I sit up, growling and glaring at Jihl. "Who is she?" Noel asks.

"It's Jihl Nabaat. The one I told you about." Lightning says. "How are you alive? You were dead. We saw it with our own eyes."

Jihl just chuckles before answering. "It's simple. The fal'Cie brought me back to live. Ever since then, I was promoted as Director of PSICOM."

We are all surprise to hear this. "Fal'Cie...can revive the dead?" Noel asks.

"Apparently they can. That's what Barthandelus did with Raines." Lightning says.

"That's...nuts. I've heard of the Fal'Cie Seraph healing people Who are gravely injured, but I never thought restoration would even be possible." Noel says.

"So you're the monster who killed the fiancé." I barked at Jihl.

"You are correct. I had no other choice. The young man was meddling in on our plans. If only we had gotten to his little girlfriend." Jihl says. "We didn't want anyone to find out about the Purge for this...'City of Light'." Jihl chuckles.

"Just why are you working for the Fal'Cie? Don't you people know all the trouble they've caused." Lightning says.

Jihls smile disappears, replaced with an offended expression. "I don't know what you're talking about. It's you l'Cie who ruined everything."

"Are you kidding? Don't you remember what happened back on the Palamecia?" Lightning asks.

"I did. I was facing you seven so the Primarch could escape, but I didn't last long in the fight." Jihl looks directly at me. "You had me injured, but still alive, just so I can watch Dysley die right before my eyes." Jihl looks up, finger on her chin. "What was it you said again? ...Oh yeah." She looks back at me. "'You will suffer the same pain as I once did.'"

Hearing that just makes my blood boil. Sure, that's what I wanted to do with Jihl, but that was not true. She's just making up lies like she always does, trying to mess with our minds.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I have matters else where, and I'm sure you do as well." A rope ladder rolls down fom the airship. Jihl grabs it and stands on it with one foot. "I believe your friend is waiting for you...in Mt. Fairne."

She smirks just as she takes off with the airship. I rush on my feet, charging towards her. "Wait! Get back here you bastard!"

She is alway in the air by the time I'm at the edge of the roof. I take out my bow and an arrow, aim directly for Jihl's skull then fire.

The arrow flies, only to be caught when it's inches from her head. That surprises me. Jihl chuckles as she snaps the arrow in half, just by crushing it in her fist.

As the Lindblum flies away, one of the dock entrances opens. Seeing that has me cautious, same for Lightning and Noel when they stand behind me. When it fully opens, a monstrous flying Cie'th is revealed.

This Cie'th isn't like anything we have encountered. It's a large scale Chaos Beast, like a Cie'th form of the Wyverns. A Cie'th monster known as Ereshkigal.

The beast flies around the Catherdal area of the city, until it's right in front of yes, wailing. The roaring cries is so loud, we averted our ears. When it stops, we get a good look at it.

"What the heck is that thing?" Lightning asks.

"I think it's a Cie'th." I say.

"It's nothing like I've ever seen." Noel says. "How is it that PSICOM are able to use it? The Cie'th are mindless creatures."

Lightning and I catches the sight of the mind control chip directly on Ereshkigal's head. "They're mind controling it. Just like back at the Vestige." I say.

We all take out our weapons. "Guessing we have no other choice." Lightning says.

Ereshkigal attacks us, doing Judgment, shooting bolts at the three of us. Lightning dodges and I leap back, while Noel just takes the hit in his Sentinel stance.

Lightning attacks the creature while I strengthen the three of us in my Synegist role. Noel shifts into Shaman and attacks with his Galestrikes and Flamestrike. Ereshkigal attacks us, luckily I place Protect on us before it did.

Lightning shifts into Ravager, casting her thunder, fire and banish spells, while I shift into Command and start shooting at the beast. Ereshkigal focuses on Noel then deals multiple attacks on him. Resonance.

Noel is knocked down and weaken. If only the poor boy could have had the chance to change into Sentinel and protected himself with Steelguard.

Lightning shifts into Medic and heals Noel. It's time I teach this monster a lesson. I shift into Saboteur and weaken it's defenses with Deprotect and Deshell, then slowing it with Slow.

Ereshkigal does another Judgment on us. This time only Lightning avoids while Noel and I took the hits. I shift into Shaman and shoot Flamestrikes and Aquastrikes. Lightning shifts back into Commando and continues attacking.

Ereshkigal unleashes a Sonic Wail, releasing a deafening screech. Not only does it hear, but it shatterred our ear drums. We are all surprised that we didn't go deaf, but it did give us Daze, Deshell and Fog. That's not good.

The Cie'th starts storing energy, charging up its power. When the Daze wore off, we came to our senses, and see the Cie'th is nearing power.

"What's it doing?" Noel asks.

"It's charging up." Lightning says, arming herself to block or attack.

"For what?" Noel asks.

"Something bad I can ensure you." I say to Noel.

Ereshkigal reaches its full power and unleashes Meteor. With a loud roar, a large meteorite rains down from the sky.

"I knew it!" I say.

Lightning is unable to cure us since her Medic heals are blocked by the Fog. Noel shifts into Sentinel and do Wide Guard. Lightning and I get right behind him, clinging on and cowering like he's a barrier, and that's when the meteorite crashes and explodes on us.

The explosion knocks us all back, even Noel. We manage to land right on the edge of the other side of the Cathedral roof. Lightning is pretty injured while Noel is weak and I'm knocked out.

Lightning and Noel get back on their feet, Lightning heals herself while Noel drinks a potion. When they're done healing, Noel shifts to Commando and charges at the beast, while Lightning uses a Phoenix Down to restore me.

I slowly get on my hands and knees, groaning, then Lightning helps me stand back up. "This thing is powerful." I say.

"It sure is." Lightning says. "But we can't back down."

I look at Lightning with a smirk. "Very true."

Noel stands his ground while the monster is doing its Resonance on him. Lightning quickly heals him while I start shooting. When that's done, Lightning shifts into Commando and charges, yelling. She draws her sword back and give the Cie'th vicious strikes.

Noel shifts into Shaman and does his Flamestrikes and Galestrikes. Once the Fog wears off, Lightning shifts into Medic and heals our wounds. She stays that way for a while since the creature is attacking us while she's healing. I shift into Shaman, shooting with Flamestrikes up until we have Ereshkigal staggering.

Noel and I quickly shift into Commando, then Lightning seconds after, then we all attack the beast headon.

Ereshkigal wails in agony. Noel delivers a couple of strikes, weakening the beast. Lightning charges at it with a yell, and does a powerful strike that causes the Cie'th to pull its head back. I focus my vision on the eye right on its neck. I load my bow, aim carefully, then fire. Pierces directly on the black dot that serves the pupil of the eye.

"Bulls-eye." I say.

[Crystarium Extended - Stage 5]

Ereshkigal yells in agony as it stumbles in the air. When it turns and spins, it falls and crashes, right on the courtyard. Everyone, even the Archdeacon, runs out to see what that impact noise was. They are all shocked to see it's a monster, even if it's dead.

Lightning and Noel stand on the edge of the roof, looking down. They watch as the citizens gathers around the dead Ereshkigal.

"That thing...it was a Cie'th." Noel looks at Lightning. "How was PSICOM able to contol that thing?"

"They found a way by using some kind of mind-control device to tame those monsters. It feels just like back on Cocoon, the Fal'Cie having PSICOM brainwashed." Lightning says.

"That's just nuts. Cocoon sounds like a nightmare." Noel says.

"And like an illusion, we didn't even see it." Lightning says.

Lightning and Noel turns to me. They see that I am looking up at the sky. They know what I'm thinking about, or who in that matter.

"So...that poisonous snake still lives." I say. I clinch my fist. "I swear, I will hunt that bitch down. I'll cut her black heart and have her head mounted on my wall."

Noel feels unease, then leans to Lightning and whispers. "Yeesh, you weren't kidding about his feelings for that Jihl person."

Lightning nods in agreement. I look at Lightning and Noel and approach them. "Let's go after them."

"There's no time. They're all ready long gone." Lightning says. "Chasing Jihl and the Lindblum would end up as a wild goose chase."

I fold my arms and softly growl. I hate to admit that Lightning is right. I have no problems agreeing, but with Jihl involved it's different.

"What was that part she said it was really you guys that killed her." Noel turns to me. "And that you made her suffer to watch this 'Primarch' to die. Was that true?" Noel asks.

"No, but I wish that suffer part was true." I say. "What really happened was I had her until Primarch Dyslay killed her and all the other Sanctum workers, then he revealed himself to be the Fal'Cie Barthandelus."

"Why would she think it was us who killed her?" Lightning asks.

"I think Yeul mentioned something about this." Noel folds his arms, looking down thinking. We wait and watch for the hunter to answer. "Hmm... 'With a second chance at life, the Goddess of Death can bring the dead to the living. Those resurrected can only remember so much before their period of death.' And then something about death can be an illusion."

"So your saying she had forgotten what really happened and remembered something else?" I ask.

"I don't know...that doesn't sound right." Lightning says.

"It might have some fitting. Raines after all did die when we fought him back on Cocoon. But he was still himself and remembered everything when we encounter him after the fall." I say.

Lightning thinks for a moment. "All true. I have a feeling the Fal'Cie that PSICOM are working for has something to do with this."

I'm surprise to hear that. "A Fal'Cie? As in Cocoon Fal'Cie?" Lightning nods. "But that's impossible. They died off when we defeated Orphan...didn't they?"

"It doesn't make sense either to me. We need to find out what's really going on." Lightning says.

"Before that Jihl person left, she mentioned something about a friend waiting for us." Noel says.

"Yeah. At Mt. Fairne." I say. "It's obviously a trap, without a doubt."

"Maybe it isn't. Perhaps she is talking about Yeul." Noel says.

"I know Jihl very well. Everything she says is a lie. What we might think could be your friend, it's really a trap to kill us." I say.

Noel is silent, but we turn to Lightning for an answer. "What about you, Lightning? What do you think?"

Lightning folds her arms, putting her weight on her left leg as she thinks about it. "Patrick has a point that it might be a trap."

"It IS a trap!" I correct, only that earns me a shove, pushing me away from Lightning.

"Even so, we don't have any other leads, and we might find some answers about PSICOM or Caius. I say we check it out, but we keep our guard up for any surprises." Lightning says.

She's agreeing to the both of us. Well that figures.

So it's settled. After we take care of a few things at the Cathedral, we load up on Snowflake and Noel's chocobo, then we headed for north, to the snowy mountains of Mt. Fairne. Noel hopes to find Yeul. I know it's a trap, with a small possiblity hope of running into Jihl, while Lightning is feeling unsure about all this.

We have to be prepared for the worse.

[Flashback]

Kuchinashi. A grassland area. (It's the Dying World area in FFXIII-2, before it became...well, dying.)

Some people use to refer it do field of flowers, for it's a land of nature and beauty. It makes Oerba look like an outhouse (Not including it as the abandon trashland it's become) While Paddra was Yeul's birthtown, Kuchinashi became her home when she was soon discovered to be a Seeress. Some are surprised by how advanced her power is. They start to believe Etro herself blessed her.

Noel dives in on the Wyvern he is riding on, only he is start to lose control over the beast. He jolts his lance, which is impaled on the beasts back, side to side to regain altitude and control.

"Whoa! Steady! Easy there!" He is still diving head on like a shooting star. "Look out!" Noel is heading right towards the village, Hamil. (The village that was once known as Black Sands area in FFXIII-2)

Hamil was commonly known to be the village for the Farseers, disciples to the Goodess Etro. The villagers screams in horror to see the Wyvern diving towards them. Noel pulls the lance back, causing the creature to fly straight on a dime when its inches from the ground.

Noel stairs the beast around as it flies through the village at high speed, up to the point where the beast hits the statue of an ancestor Farseer at the center of the village.

Noel lays on his stomach right next to the Wyvern. He moans as he gets on his arms. He rubs his head to ease the pain. "Landing...gotta work on the landing." He says.

Noel gets back on his feet. He checks the Wyvern, only to see that it's dead. The impact was probably hard mixed with his lance jabbed on its nervous system. "Well, there goes my ride."

Noel removes the lance, turn them back into his two swords and puts them away. Noel notices all the villagers are looking, shocked and terrified. Noel looks at the direction their facing to find a broken statue. Immediately, he realizes what it is he has done.

"Sorry, my bad...That was my fault." Noel says. "I'll uh...I'll pay for the damages."

On that note, the villagers resume their normal lives. Now Noel starts looking around the village for Yeul. However, he is having no luck. Yeul no longer has a house in this village, even since her parents died weeks after her leave to Kuchinashi.

But it's not a total loss. Being a Seeress, she also does have the power to speak to the dead. She was still able to speak to her parents once and a while. However, she can only speak to them for a short time and she's not allowed to make any meddles between the dead and the living. Like if Hope wanted to talk to his dead mother, Yeul can't do anything about it. Not even act as a translater.

After half an hour of searching around, Noel decided to ask the villagers. Many of them were barely a help. No one really knows where Yeul is, let alone even seen her come to the Village.

Eventually, Noel decided to start looking outside of the village. He got on a Chocobo and start searching. Kuchinashi isn't much of a violent land or hunting ground. There are rarely any monsters, and for those that are here are usually red blobs and plant creatures.

Kuchinashi is a huge land, ruled by the nature Fal'Cie: Urd, who lives beneath the world tree: Yggdrasil, that's in the northern area of the zone. Searching for Yeul isn't going to be easy.

After a long hour of searching, Noel finally decides to look for Yeul at the other end of Kuchinashi, in Farseers Settlement. The town around this area is small, but has a large temple at the end, (Farseer Relic area). There is where Farseers to go and worship the Goddess Etro.

This is Noel's best chance of finding Yeul.

His theory is proven to be correct. Yeul kneels in front of the statue of the Goddess on the alter. Her left hand is wrapped in bandages. There's no wound, but a different reason. Hiding something perhaps.

"Etro...please. Tell me. What should I do?" Yeul says. "I don't want to hurt anyone, and I don't want to betray you or my people...Or even my friends Noel and Caius. I am lost. Please, lend me your wisdom."

Noel walks right into the temple. Immediately, he spots Yeul. "Yeul?"

Yeul flinches. She stands then turns, to see that it is only Noel. "Noel? ...What are...what are you doing here?"

"Caius said that you disappeared. I got worried so I came to find you." Noel says.

Yeul looks ashamed. "You have...sorry."

Noel shakes his head. "No. It's fine." Noel starts walking towards Yeul. As he does, Yeul steps back with worry. Noel stops when he notices something is wrong. "Yeul?"

"Please...just stay away from me." Yeul says.

Noel is concern. Her tone isn't sorrow or hostile, but fear and worry. "Yeul? What's wrong?"

"Just leave me alone." Yeul turns, facing away from Yeul.

She's defiantly hiding something. "Yeul..." Noel is a bit surprise to hear Yeul say that to him. Usually, she's never one who would want to be left alone. "Please, tell me. What's the matter? You know you can trust me with anything."

Yeul begins to have second thoughts. It's true that she can trust Noel with anything. Question is can she really trust him with...this? How will he react if he finds out? Without any other choice, she sighs.

"Okay...just...please don't freak out." Noel seems confused, then notices Yeul removing the bandages wrapped around her hand. Once they are off and now laying on the ground beside the girl, Yeul reveals the back of her hand.

To Noel, he is speechless. She has a l'Cie brand. An X with smaller X's on each line. Right now, the brand has three arrows, all of them on the top right little X.

"You see? ...branded by Bhunivelze." Yeul says.

"The brand..." Noel barely whispers. "The legends...they're true...you're a l'Cie?" Yeul nods sadly. "If you're a l'Cie then that means..." Noel realizes something. He rushes up to Yeul, puts his hands on her shoulders making her face him. "Yeul...your Focus. What is it?"

Yeul shook her head. "I can't tell you. It's too dangerous."

"But...we have to complete. If you don't, you'll turn into a monster." Noel says.

"I'll be a monster if I complete it anyways." Tears are beginning to form in her eyes. Noel seems saden to see her like this. Yeul is not really a crying type either. Yeul pulls her hand away from Noel. "Please...you have to get away from me!" Yeul turns, walking up the alter slowly. "I don't...I don't know what to do! I can't complete my Focus, but I don't want to be a Cie'th."

As Yeul begins to drown in her doubts and despair, her brand starts glowing. The pain starts to form, but she ignores it. Yeul faces up. "Etro! Maker! Please tell me! What should I do? I just don't know what to do!"

Just then, the pain becomes too much to bear, let alone ignore. Kneel feels to her knees, groaning in pain as her grabs hold of her branded hand. Magic swirls around and a summoning circle of red appears beneath her. Yeul screams in agony. Neol starts worry hearing her cries of pain.

"Yeul!" He reaches out for her, but doesn't move towards her.

The circle is complete and it shoots three beams of holy fire. The beams connect at the top of the temple. When all that energy was unleashed, Yeul collapses, and Noel rushes to her side.

A large orb of fire appears. Noel looks up, then Yeul once she recovered some energy. Something takes form within the blazing orb, then it explodes, revealing a warrior, with no weapon, a hybrid creature in the form of a humanoid bird, enflamed fires on its arms and legs.

Phoenix.

Noel and Yeul are surprise to see this. "What...what is that thing?" Noel asks.

Yeul widens her eyes open. "It's...an Eidolon." Yeul gets back on her feet, looking at the creature. "I have heard of them...When a l'Cie loses the will to go on, an eidolon appears for them. They are whatever will and courage you have left taking form."

Noel is speechless as he gazes upon the eidolon. Phoenix gazes down on Yeul, then gets into its fighting stance. Seeing that, Noel prepares himself as well, standing in between Yeul and Phoenix, taking out his swords.

Yeul looks at Noel. "Noel? What are you doing?"

"The legends say the Eidolons will fight you when you first call upon them. I am not letting them harm you." Noel says.

Yeul is surprise to hear Noel say that, then smiles with a small laugh. "You are beginning to sound like Caius."

Noel looks at Yeul over his shoulder then smiles. "I guess he rubbed off on me."

Yeul nods, then she faces Phoenix with a serious face. She stands on Noel's side, taking out her staff: The Malleable. (It's like the malleable staff in FFX)

[In game: Yeul's Crystarium is unaccessable during these flashbacks. However, her Crystarium level of power will be based on Noels. Like for instance, he's at full stage 4. That means Yeul's power is at full stage 4.]

Phoenix casts Doom on Yeul. She only has 180 seconds to live.

Noel starts his battle as Commando, attacking the Eidolon with his blades. Yeul stands back, casting Water and Blizzard spells. Phoenix focuses its attacks on Yeul. It does Soaring Eagle. Leaps back then rushes through Yeul in a sonic charge, leaving flaming feathers in its trail.

Noel stays on the Eidolon, attacking. Yeul shifts into Saboteur, then casts Deprotect and Deshell. Phoenix only receives Deshell. Phoenix casts Fira the Firaga. Noel and Yeul are in deep trouble.

Noel gets in between Yeul and the eidolon, in a defensive stance. "I'll protect you, Yeul!" Meanwhile, Yeul shifts into Medic and heals herself and Noel with Cura. When restored, Noel continues attacking Phoenix. Phoenix attacks Noel, then does Sun Sweep, low kicking with a fiery enhance. Noel feels off his feet from that strike.

Yeul heals up Noel until he's restored, then shifts into Synergist to apply Protect, Shell, Bravery and Faith on the both of them.

Yeul only has 90 seconds left.

Phoenixs attacks hardly does much hurting to Noel cause of the protection spells. Yeul now shifts into Ravager and resumes attacking with offensive magic. She however doesn't cast fire spells, knowing that'll only make the eidolon stronger.

Phoenix does Blazing Barrage, shooting multiple feathers at Noel and Yeul, then does a Soaring Eagle directly at Yeul. Yeul shifts back into Medic and focuses on healing herself and Noel. Noel just attacks the Eidolon until Yeul is back into Ravager.

Now Yeul only has 45 seconds left to live. The girl can feel herself weakening as her life starts to drain away from the dark magic. She needs to conquer her Eidolon fast.

Yeul shifts into Saboteur, repeatly casting Deshell on Phoenix until it's been effected. Phoenix focuses attacking on Yeul, striking then doing Sun Sweep, then casts Radiance Flare, shooting a bolt of fire and it explodes in holy fire.

Yeul ignores her wounds and attacks the Eidolon.

Eventually, the eidolon submits, then enters Gestalt form. Phoenix morphs, transforms into a blazing bird, then the eidolon fades into crystal shards to become absorbed into Yeuls brand.

Yeul stands on her hands and knees, panting in exhaustion. That fight really wore her out. Noel is exhausted as well, only not as much as Yeul is since he's not the one having his life drained during the fight.

"Man. Fighting an Eidolon is harder then it sounds like." Yeul says.

"Yeah." Noel approaches to Yeul. He takes the girls hand and helps her stand on her feet. "Um...do you think...that was your answer?"

Yeul seems confused at first, then realizes what he meant. Before the eidolon appeared, she called out to Etro and the Maker for answers. Wondering what she should do.

"Maybe..." Yeul looks up at the Etro statue. "From what I've learned, battling an eidolon is different from fighting monsters. When you fight, it's like making a choice." Yeul folds her hands. "When you conquer it, you'll find the answers to seek and have the courage to move on. When you submit to it, you lose the will to continue on."

"So...did you find your answer?" Noel asks.

Yeul is uncertain. She holds her hand out, looking at the brand that rests on the back of her hand. As see stares, she can see the face of Phoenix, her Eidolon. Its blazing flame eyes gazes upon her.

"No...I haven't. But I will." Yeul turns to Noel with a smile. "I won't give up." Noel smiles and nods. He's glad to be able to cheer Yeul up. Her smile now disappears, replaced with a serious face. She grabs Noels arm and starts dragging him. "Come. We need to return to Paddra."

"W-why...What's wrong?" Noel asks.

"Something's coming. Something bad." Yeul says.

Noel wonders what it could be. He knows that it can't be good. But he has a theory of who's involved.

Bhunivelze.


	10. Macalania Woods

A/N: I have been recently playing FFXIII-2. Makes me wish making my story here into a game is actually possible. Don't get me wrong, as far as I've gotten since the Lightning Returns incident, the original FFXIII-2 is okay, up until I get to episode 5, then everything felt going downhill for me. Not sure way, it could be because of Lightning Returns. Anyways, I still think it could have been better. However I do know that I wouldn't enjoy it's ending with Serah's death and the chaos unleashed, the cliffhanger. Not that I'm trying to criticize Square Enix or anything.

Still, looking back at the game after a year and a half, it's going to be difficult to make this story a near match to the line of characteristic/location history and such. I already struggle on current conditions and decisions. Starting with what Goddess I should make Etro.

Chapter 6: Macalania Woods

* * *

The Macalania Woods is a place some people refer it to as the enchanted forest. At night, the forest lights up in an enchanted glow. As radiant as the light in the world of night. People would enjoy visiting this place, but it's also crawling with monsters. Some of them would wish they have the ability to fight alone with Fang and Vanille would.

But the monsters are the least of everyone's worries. Cause many people so easily get lost, and sometimes never make it out alive.

Right now, Snow and Serah are resting underneath a large tree within the forest. At first, they are watching the radiant view of the woods while Hope does a little investigation, but now they have fallen asleep. Drifted off due to a mix of beautiful scenery and the comfort of grass and each other.

Couples. There's no understanding them.

Hope makes his way through the bushes. "Okay. I didn't find any food. Maybe we should-" Hope notices the couple asleep. "Guys!" Snow and Serah are waken on alert hearing Hope yell at them. After being alerted, they stretch their arms and yawn. "Were you two sleeping the whole time?"

"Not really." Serah gets off of Snow then Snow gets back on his feet. "We were just laying down watching the view. Then I guess we must have dozed off."

Hope makes a look that means he's not buying it. "If Patrick were here, he would probably slap you silly." Hope says.

"I have a feeling he really would." Serah says with a giggle in the end. "I just hope the others are okay. I don't even know if they survived the explosion."

"I'm sure they did. Everyone is pretty tough...well, I'm not sure about Sazh on that one. If anything, he's just not killed that easily." Hope says.

Snow takes a few steps around, looking at the forest. "I just wish our situation here would lighten up."

"The forest here is beautiful, but so easy to get lost." Serah says.

"Well, we need to get to headquarters. It was either this or the Dead Dunes." Hope says.

The Dead Dunes is a desert wasteland. Nothing but scorching heat by day, even in the winter season, and 81 degree temperatures at night. Not much of a pass through area, unless you're a Cactuar or in winter at night.

"Starting to wish we had gone through the desert." Hope says.

"Well, I know we'll find a way out of here." Serah says. "Let's just keep trying."

Hope nods in agreement. Snow pounds his fists together, turning in one direction. "All right! I'll take the lead! Just leave it to the hero."

Snow moves ahead. Serah stands back and laughs as she watches her fiancé move on ahead. "This might be Patricks influence talking." Serah looks at Hope hearing that. "But I just don't get what you see in him."

Serah gives Hope a playful shove. "Oh don't be like that. Sure, he can be a hothead sometimes, but I love him anyways."

"Right." Serah and Hope follows Snow into the woods.

The Macalania Woods is a pretty big and wide forest area on Grand Pulse. As far as anyone knows since the fall of Cocoon, people can get pretty lost in these woods. There are however wildlife in here, but they are not the reason for people never being able to come out, like how it was back in Twilight Woods on Cocoon.

As the young trio make their way around these woods, they encounter some monsters. Just a bunch of Torama's, Silver Loco's, Spooks, Stalkers, Flans and Leeches.

These woods are beautiful, not peaceful. Yet most people get overwhelmed in the viewing they always forget about the monsters.

Hope, Serah and Snow take on the beasts. Snow just fights in Commando and while Serah and Hope stays behind, casting magic in their Ravager roles. Here's a surprise, the monsters are focusing on Snow all the way. It's like the beasts believe that he's in his Sentinel role. Though that does put him to a disadvantage, since he can't defend himself in his offensive.

Serah constantly shifts into Medic to keep Snow alive with his healing spells. Hope eventually applies Protect and Shell on Snow, then himself and Serah. That sure help settle things.

So far, the road they take is just a single path that carves with the enchanted trees.

"Ever feel like we've been here before?" Serah asks.

"I cannot say. Everything looks about the same to me." Hope says.

"Funny. I didn't expect to hear you say that." Snow says.

Hope isn't sure why Snow would think that. Cause Hope is smart or cause something like that is really something Snow or perhaps Fang and Sazh would say.

Serah, Snow and Hope keep following the path, which is crawling with monsters. The only place on the path that's monsterless is the log bridge that's over a river. Once they were across that river, the enouncter more monsters.

Snow focuses on holding off the Beasts. Serah shoots at the Spooks that are attacking them with their fire spells. One of the Spooks, an Adroa, begins its summoning magic. Hope notices, but couldn't do anything about it since the creature is resisted to magic.

"Guys. We got trouble." Hope says.

Serah and Snow notices the summon the Adroa is doing, but it's too late. When the creature is finished, a Greater Behemoth appears from the circle.

"Oh dear. That's not good." Serah says.

The Greater Behemoth snarls. When it faces Serah and Hope, it roars. Snow finishes off the Torama's. "Don't worry! I got this!"

Snow charges in, shifts into Sentinel. The behemoth swipes at Snow, who defends himself with Steelguard. Serah shifts her weapon into a long sword, then she takes care of the Adroa, while Hope focuses his magic on the Greater Behemoth.

The Greater Behemoth gets blown by Hope's Aerora. Not really by much, the beast was standing its ground. When Aerora was over, it focuses on Hope then charges towards him. The boy starts to panick, then Snow gets in the way.

"I got this!" When the Greater Behemoth leaps, Snow gets under it, then pushes it over him, causing the Behemoth to fly over Hope and crash into a tree.

The trio now stands together, watching and waiting for the monsters next move. The Greater Behemoth gets up, but its legs are shaking and it looks dazed.

"Let's finish it off!" Hope says.

That's when everyone turns Commando and they attack the beast headon, with Serah's shooting, Snows punches and Hope's constant Ruin casting.

The Greater Behemoth falls.

Serah and Hope are exhausted, Snow is still standing. He pounds his fists together. "Woo! That was quite a workout."

"Workout? That was pretty hard." Hope says.

"I agree with Hope." Serah says. "I'm not use to these kinds of adventures. I don't even know how you guys do this."

Hope looks directly at Serah. "It's not easy from the start, but you'll get use to it after a while."

Serah sighs in disappointment. "I just hope it'll be very soon."

Snow approaches Serah, helps her stand back up on her feet. "Don't worry, Serah. You'll be okay. Just leave the fighting to me."

Serah smiles with a little giggle. Hope just chuckles like Snow said something stupid. "If Patrick were here, he would say something like 'Oh sure, leave everything to the zero'." Serah and Snow looks at Hope, with a mix of concern and offended. "What? He would, wouldn't he?"

There was still silence. Nobody breaks it until Snow does. "Okay...well, let's just keep going."

Serah, Hope and Snow travels further into the woods, only they still have no idea where they are going. They just keep following the path hoping it'll lead them towards an exit. Sadly, all it's done is lead them towards monsters.

Doesn't really matter to them. They can defeat the monsters so easily, now that they know that their priority target are the Adroa Spooks since they can summon feral creatures.

Snow handles fighting the creatures head on while Serah and Hope supports him from behind. Hope defiantly supports whenever he's in his Synergist role.

As the trio continues onward, they encounter a field of flowers on the sides of the path. "Wow. The flowers are lovely." Serah says.

The flowers are roses, lilies and moonlight: A purple and blue flower that only grows at the night time, and has a small enchanted glow in the center.

"Perhaps I should pick you some. A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady." Snow says.

Serah laughs with a small blush. Hope thought it was nice as well. Now he understands the part of Serah's advice to give the girl he's crushing on some flowers.

The boy decides to pick a Moonlight flower to give to his girl. Question is: Who is she?

Even in this lovely part of the forest, they still encounter some monsters. Serah just hopes that they don't end up harming the flowers. Who wouldn't want to step on flowers. (A/N: *Whispering while pointing thumb at Aerith of Final Fantasy VII* Aerith.)

The Flans starts crawling towards Serah and Hope. The two of them notices and fights them. Hope blows the with Aerora to hold them back, while Serah shoots at them.

Snow is too focused on the Stalkers to help them out, usually, he can hardly see those creatures coming since they are plants and they blend in with the forest.

Camouflaged monsters. They're the worst.

Serah and Hope didn't hold them back long. The creatures reaches them and attacks, but they still fight them until the Flans are defeated. Then they help Snow out with his monsters.

Once everything is settled, Serah and Hope heals each other and Snow, then they continue on.

The road they take leads them uphill, until they reach to a cliff at the side of the road. They stop here, Hope figures he could use the view to figure out where they are. So far, it's not much. All he can get in his sights is the mountains where it holds the tunnels they used to get here from Etro's Temple. Beneath those in view is just the woods.

Snow stands to keep watch while Serah just walks, looking around. "No matter how many times I see these woods, it's amazing. Makes me wish Lightning and Vanille were here to see this."

Snow disagrees about Lightning though. And if I were there, I would agree with him. "I don't think Lightning would so much find enjoyment in the scenery."

"Snow has a point, but I am with Serah on this." Hope says.

Serah and Snow didn't quite understand. He gets what Snow means, but agrees with Serah? Then again, Serah realizes that Hope is crushing on Lightning, at least that's what she thinks. Serah figured he could bring her here.

Once Hope is done, he rejoins Serah and Snow. "I can't exactly map out our location, but we are pretty far from the temple." Hope says.

"So...we're lost?" Snow says.

"I have a feeling we are." Hope says. "I just wish Vanille and Fang are here. Maybe they would know what to do, or perhaps knows the way in here."

Serah and Snow agrees with Hope. "Well, let's keep looking. See if we can find someone that'll help. Or maybe a way out?" Serah suggests.

"Well, beats sitting around doing nothing but twiddling our thumbs." Snow says.

Serah laughs a little, then she and Hope agrees.

The trio continues their travel within the woods. The path goes downhill, filled with feral creatures. The creatures are tough. One of them is a group of Beasts and a Feral Behemoth. Snow shifts into Sentinel and holds off the Behemoth while Serah and Hope focuses attacking the Beasts.

One of the Gorgonopsid's comes are Serah and Hope and does its poisonous breath on them. Serah and Hope become poisoned from the attack. Hope shifts into Medic, then heals himself and Serah with Esuna. Serah strikes at the Gorgonopsid by them with her sword, until the creature is down. Hope shifts back into Ravager then casts offensive magic on the beasts.

The Feral Behemoth heaves Snow, but the hero still stands his ground, protected by his Steelguard. Even protected, the Feral Behemoth deals a hell of damage. If Snow were in any of his other roles, he would be dead in one hit, even with a Protect spell.

Once Serah and Hope are done with the beasts, they stop Snow with the Feral Behemoth. Serah shifts into Medic to heal her fiancé. Once he's restored, she shifts back into Commando, switch her weapon into a bow then shoots at it. The Behemoth roars in aggression. That causes him to grow stronger.

"Oh dear. That's not good." Hope says.

The Feral Behemoth heaves Snow. Unfortunately, he wasn't defending himself, so that knocks him out like a light. "Snow!" Serah shouts.

The Behemoth focuses on Serah and Hope, growling. They're about to become dinner. "I think we're in deeper trouble then Snow." Hope says.

The Behemoth swipes its front claw to the ground, then charges like a bull aiming towards something red.

"Incoming!" Hope and Serah dodges out of the way, and the Behemoth ends up crashing into a tree. Serah and Hope stand aside, watching for the beast to make its next move, but all the creature does is collapses and groans its final breath.

Serah and Hope sigh in relief, it's over. Now they go to Snow. Serah sits beside him while Hope heals him up. It takes a couple of healing spells. By the time Hope is done, Snow starts to revive. Serah is relieved to see he's okay.

"You okay?" Serah asks.

Snow wakes up with a smile and a chuckle. "Man...that thing sure packs a punch."

From the single comment, Hope got Serah's answer. "He's okay." Hope says.

Once Snow is fully recovered, they continue onward. They still encounter many wildlife creatures. Luckily they aren't as tough as that Feral Behemoth. Few of the battles does however have a Feral Behemoth in them. The fights become tough for the trio.

They travel into the woods for the next couple of minutes. "Is it me, or does this area seem familiar?" Serah asks.

The Deepwood area does seem similar to where they were resting, while Hope went off on his own for a while, but it's different. It's a single path with flowers and line of puddles on the sides.

"It doesn't to me. But I do feel like we're pretty lost." Snow says.

The monsters around here are easier for them to handle. It's mostly Triffids and Flans. Being here reminds Hope of his time in the Twilight Woods. Seems just yesterday, the boy was taking care of Lightning due to her injury while I took point in the woods.

Makes him miss those days.

After fighting through dozens groups of monsters, they arrive at some resting place. It's a wide area, with no monsters, and a waterfall followed by a river. The path leads to the left, uphill. Serah begins to look exhausted. She sits by the river, catching her breath.

"I'm exhausted." Serah says.

"We'll rest here for a while." Hope says, as he looks around.

"Good idea." Snow sits down right next to Serah. He grabs one of his feet. "My dogs are barking."

Snow and Serah relaxes while Hope takes a look around this area. The boy is restless, compared to back on Cocoon, he could barely keep up with Lightning. Being a l'Cie has really toughen him up. Serah watches Hope while she rests. Her expression is a bit concern.

She remembers the conversation she had with her sister back at the catacombs of the temple. Saying how she's not really into Hope the way he is into her. Knowing both Lightning and Hope, Serah can imagine how it's going to end, and it won't be pretty.

Snow notices Serah's concerns. "Hey, Serah. Something wrong?"

Serah snaps out of her mind and looks at Snow. "Oh? ...Sorry, I'm just a little distracted." Serah says.

Snow turns to where Serah was looking that. All he sees is Hope, climbing on the rocks next to the waterfall. "What? About Hope?"

"Something like that." Serah answers. "I was talking to Lightning back at that temple. I told her about Hopes crush on her."

"You don't say? How did she react?" Snow asks.

"At first, she doubted it, then realized it's true." Serah says.

"Ha! Sounds like her all right." Snow says like it was a joke.

Serah seems a bit offended, almost like Snow thinks she's joking. "I mean it. But not only that, Lightning doesn't feel the sameway about him."

Now Snow seems serious, hearing that takes away his cool attitude. "What? She doesn't?" Serah nods. "Oh...Well, I can't say I'm surprised she would feel that way. But I can't imagine how she'll tell Hope."

"That's just it. Knowing my sister, I'm worried about how she's going to handle Hope. What if she breaks his heart...or worse?" Serah says.

"Well, I see what you mean. But I don't really think Lightning would go that far." Snow puts his hands behind his hand and lays down on the soft grass and dirt. "I mean, we all know how much Lightning cares for Hope. Even after he's lost his parents."

"That is true. I'm even surprised at how much she cares for someone other then me." Serah says.

"Should we tell him, just to soften the blow?" Snow asks.

Serah shook her head. "No. No. Hope says he wants to tell her. If he finds out I told Lightning, and you as well, he'll get mad."

"That I'll believe. You should have seen him when he tried to kill me back in Palumpolum." Snow says.

Serah doesn't want to think back at that time. Even though she was never there to witness the vengeful Hope, the very thought of him trying to kill her boyfriend just gives her the shudders. Even though he did apologize for his brutal behavior.

Hope is up the rocky hill by the waterfall. He looks very closely as his eyes falls the rocky wall. There is a slight opening between the wall and the waterfall. Hope still took his chances. He squeezes himself, hugging on the wall by his back as he walks sideways, one little step at a time.

As soon as he's in the middle of the waterfall, completely out of Serah and Snow's sight, he starts following the rock wall. Hope is caught by surprise. He feels nothing.

He turns to see some kind of passage, a secret cave hidden behind that waterfall. "What the...?" Hope comes within sight until he spots Serah and Snow. "Hey, guys!" Serah and Snow turns to see Hope. "Over here!"

Serah and Snow gets up. They head towards the waterfall. When they're close, Hope goes back into the small opening. Serah and Snow takes a look inside. Hope shows them the hidden passage.

"Look at this." Hope says.

Serah and Snow approaches the hidden path. "Whoa...some secret cave?" Snow asks.

"Maybe. Might find us a way out of this forest." Hope says.

Serah takes the lead. "Let's check it out."

The hidden passage is nothing but stone, clear of monsters. It does however has a lovely echo of the waterfalls. "You can really hear the waterfalls in here...sounds lovely." Serah points out.

When they move deeper, the stone tunnel is replaced with roots and grass. To them, they're surprised. The color is brown and dry green. Probably the first time they've ever seen this kind of nature in this enchanted forest. The tunnel wasn't long or deep, but they can tell when they reach the end. For they return to the glowing enchants of the forest.

The end of the tunnel leads them to some wide area. The area contains a small village. Only what Hope, Snow and Serah didn't expect is that the village is being populated by Moogles.

They stand gazing at the small flying creatures as they wonder around doing work. Moving lumber, visiting each others shops, racking up leafs, the little Moogles playing around. Hope and Serah realizes they're intruding and don't want to interfere. They both hide behind a bush, kneeling down to stay out of sight. But they notice Snow is still standing, gazing at the Moogles. So they grabbed him by the shoulders and pull him down.

They move the leafs out of the way, so they can see but still remain hidden. They even whisper to remain quiet and undetected. "Are they...Moogles?" Serah asks.

"Like...real living or toy Moogles?" Hope asks.

"They seem real enough to me." Snow says.

"I've never seen a real living Moogle before. It's amazing." Hope says.

Serah smiles as she holds her hands. "They're so cute too."

A group of the children Moogles plays ball, tossing to each other. One of them toss the ball, but it went over one of them. The Moogle who missed the ball turns to see the ball rests by the bush where the former l'Cies are hiding. "I got it, Kupo." The Moogle floats towards the bush.

Serah silently gasps. "Someone's coming!" The three of them stays down, remaining quiet.

The little Moogle approaches the bush. It floats down to pick up the ball. The young Moogle senses something. "Kupo?" The Moogle looks at the bush. It doesn't see it, but it can sense something. The Moogle raises up until it sees over the bush.

The Moogle is caught by surprise. There he sees Serah, Hope and Snow. The three of them looks at the Moogle, with the expressions that means they don't know what to do or expect. Serah, on the other hand, smiles with a nervous laugh and waves at the Moogle. The Moogle turns and shouts like an alarm.

"HUMANS!"

The second that word got out, all the other Moogles drops what they're doing and they jerk their heads at the direction the young Moogle was shouting from. Serah, Hope and Snow stands, revealing themselves. They seem a bit worried, especially Serah. Making cute little Moogles being afraid of a sweet girl like her.

All the Moogles flees in terror. All of them shout 'Kupo' repeatly as they fly around in chaos.

Kupo! Kupo! Kupo! Kupo! Kupo!

Serah tries to stop them from running. "W-wait! No! Please. Listen. We just..."

None of the Moogles are listening to her. They just keep fleeing. Many of them begin hiding from the humans. Hiding behind the trees, village tents, large mushrooms and stumps and rocks. Anything they can hide behind. The last Moogle flees towards the trees, only it bumps into the tree and falls. For a moment, it lays on the ground, then it gets its second wind, shake its tiny legs and bolts behind the tree. (A/N: How funny it would be to see this little scene, wouldn't you guys agree)

"No! Wait! Please, we didn't mean you startle you all." Serah says. She walks ahead until she's at the center of the village. "Come on out. We're not going to hurt you."

One of the Moogles pops it head out, then another does the same, only it's facing the other Moogle. "Don't trust a human, Kupo! They only bring misery to our kind." Says the Moogle, who looks like the chief of this small village.

Serah is hurt to hear that. "What...but. That's not true. Listen, my friends and I are lost and we need to find a way out of here. Please, if you could just help us..."

The chief Moogle bursts out of his hiding spot. "No!" The Moogle Chief floats towards Searh. "We will not help your kind, Kupo! Leave this village and never come back!"

Serah is speechless. Hope approaches to the two of them. "Listen. We just need a little help getting out of here. Then we'll be out of your..." Hope clears his throat. "Fur."

"You humans have done nothing but hurt our kind and break our spirits, Kupo! Leave now or we'll force you out!" The Moogle Chief says.

Snow approaches as he chuckles, like what the Moogle Chief says is a joke. "Oh really? You cute little furries forcing us out?" Snow even tickles the chiefs stomach. The chief jerks back.

"Snow. Please don't argue with the Moogle." Serah says.

"You had your chance." The Moogle Chief turns his back on them. "KUPOS!" All the Moogles come out of hiding, in bravery and pride. "Seize them!"

All the Moogles creeps up to Serah, Hope and Snow. Even behind all that adorableness, the three of them can see horror. Even the 'Kupos' they say are single and eerie, with a short pause in between. And it's certainly starting to affect the humans. They slowly back away, Serah hiding behind Snow like a shield. When they are close, the Moogles starts attacking.

Their attacks aren't much, nothing serious. In fact...silly even. They just swarm on them like locus's on a crop field. Few of them just pokes them so hard it hurts. One of them whacks Hope on the shin with its rod.

The attack causes the three of them to back up, until they're in front of the entrance, where they turn and make a run for it. The Moogles stops by the tunnel, watching the trio leave their village.

Hope, Serah and Snow keeps on running until they return to the Seafalls. Hope and Serah are panting, hands on their knees. "Can't believe that happened." Serah says.

"Yeah. It's surprising enough to see Moogles real, but them going all feral against us." Hope says.

"I wouldn't say 'Feral'. More like Hostile." Serah says.

"You might be right." Hope says.

"Wait!" Serah and Hope watches Snow feel around his pants and trench coat. "Those...those little savages stoled my wallet!"

Hope groans as he stands straight. "This is not our day."

Serah approaches Hope. She puts a hand on his back, giving him a gentle rub. "Aw, don't say that. Let's just keep going."

Hope agrees with Serah. The two of them and Snow continue on the road. They are pretty bummed on how they've become most wanted against the Moogles, and all they did was approach their village.

They encounter more creatures, this time Flans and Terraquatics. Snow fights them off while Serah and Hope stand back to help him. Hope casts Protect on Snow, then himself and Serah. Serah shoots at the last Flan, killing it. The Mud Frog Terraquatic hops towards Hope and attacks him. Hope shifts into Commando and casts Ruin spells on it until the creature is dead.

As they wonder, they begin to notice their path is making them turn back into the direction they came from in the Seafalls. "Is it me, or does it feel like we turned around." Snow asks.

"We might have, but we really don't have any other way to go." Hope says.

After minutes of traveling, and dozens of creatures they had to fight through, they just walk down the path. They begin to give up. Snow sits on a boulder, sighing. "This is pointless. There's just no way out of here." Snow says.

Hope and Serah looks at Snow. Hope is mostly surprised. "Giving up that easily. Doesn't sound like you Snow." Hope says. "Whatever happen to the hero who never backed down when we became cursed l'Cie."

"Hope's right. Even when you found out about me becoming a l'Cie, you never give up on me." Serah says.

"Sorry. I'm just tired I guess." Snow says.

Serah and Hope says nothing. Then they become startled when they hear a high-pitched scream. Doesn't sound human, but different. "What was that?" Hope asks.

"Come on!" Serah rushes in.

"S-Serah! Wait up!" Snow and Hope goes after her.

Serah rushes to the end of the road. There, she finds a single Moogle, cornered against three creatures made entirely out of wood. Twigs, logs, leafs and such. They are creatures known as Timberwolves. And with them is a single flying wooden creature known as a Dryad.

Serah seems horrible at the situation of the Moogle and the strange creatures. The Dryad turns and notices Serah. It shouts then the Timberwolves turn. They all growl and prowl as they stare at her with evil green eyes.

Hope and Snow catches up, only to be caught by surprise at the event. "What the...what are those things?" Snow asks.

Hope takes out his Boomerang. "I don't know. I've never seen anything like them in the Academic Bestiary Datas." Hope says.

"Well let's study them as we take them down." Snow says.

Snow charges in, yelling, then sweep kicks them with his Blitz. Serah shifts into Shaman and does Aquastrikes, in sword mode, not really a good idea. Hope casts Fira on them. The creatures are weak against fire, but are strong against the water. In fact, they absorb them. It's no surprise really. They are made of wood after all.

The Dryad casts Aero at Serah, the Timberwolves attack Snow. He staggers a bit. He recovers quickly then continues attacking the creatures. He defeats one of the Timberwolves, shatters and falls apart like the black magic fade from it.

Hope shifts in Synergist, casting Vigilance on everyone. Knowing that these creatures are strong enough to break them down. The Dryad focuses on Hope. It casts Aerora on him. The wind is strong, but Hope still stands his ground. Serah now does Flamestrikes on the Timberwolves.

The Timbewolves falls quickly over Snows attacks, and the Dryad is defeated from Hopes magic.

The battle is over and the heroes take a moment to rest. After putting away their weapons, they pay attention to the Moogle. The flying creature still cowers, then shortly afterwards notices the humans.

"Kupo?" The Moogle says, confused with its head tilted to the side. "Humans...saved me?"

Serah, Snow and Hope are not sure how to react or what to say to the Moogle, despite what happened back at the Moogle Village. Serah steps forward. "That's right...we're friendly humans." Serah says.

At first, the Moogle does nothing. Then it cheers, spinning and hopping, shouting 'Kupo'. In the end, it rushes to Serah and gives her a little hug. It's only little cause it's tiny little arms, but it's really big in body mass, while also rubbing its head on her like a cat.

"Thank you for saving me, Kupo!" The Moogle says.

Serah was quite astonished by the Moogles sudden reactions. She certainly didn't except that. Shortly, she smiles and hugs the Moogle back, laughing.

"Nice to see a friendly face." Snow says. And Hope agrees.

Serah and the Moogle disbands the hug. "Thank you ever so much, Kupo. I thought I was a goner for sure."

"It was nothing." Serah says.

"If you don't mind, could to please take me back to my village, Kupo? I'm not really lost, but there's no way I'll make it back against those monsters, Kupo." The Moogle says.

"If your village is that place behind the waterfall, I don't think we can help you with that." Hope says.

Serah doesn't agree with Hope on the can't help the Moogle part, but she knows it's true. "He does have point. We were there earlier and they forced us out."

The Moogle looks down in depression. "Kupo. I know what you mean. My father is the chief and he doesn't trust humans, Kupo." Everyone is surprise to hear this. The Moogle they rescued is the son of that Moogle leader. The Moogle floats straight. "But I'm sure I'll explain everything when we get there, Kupo."

Snow shrugs his shoulders. "What the heck. I'm with the little guy."

Hope is still uncertain, but he does agree to help the Moogle. Serah smiles. "All right. Let's go. My name is Serah." Serah introduces Snow and Hope to the Moogle. "This is Snow and Hope."

"My name is Mog. Pleasure to meet you, Kupo." Mog says.

Serah, Hope and Snow begins escorting the young Moogle back to the village. They're little journey, however, is not very peaceful. They encounter more enemies, much like the same groups as they did only some of the monsters are replaced with the Timberwolves and Dryads.

While they fight, Mog stays at a safe distance, or stands right behind Serah if she's far enough from the enemies while either using her weapon in bow mode or casting magic. Who can blame the little guy? He's not exactly a fighter.

They made it back to the Seafalls, then head directly behind the waterfall, making their way back into the Moogle Village. As they walk, Hope and Snow starts to feel unease. They were kicked out of the village just for approaching. They can't even imagine what's going to happen returning to the village they're banned from with one of their own.

Sure, they could explain they saved Mog, but the Moogles might see it in a different way, like they might think that Serah and the others could have captured the little Moogle. Why would they return to the village with the captive? Who can say?

As soon as they arrive at the village, they are glad they showed ip. All of the Moogles are cornered, cowering, as right in front of them are a large group of Timberwolves and few Dryads.

Everyone is surprise by this. "Oh no. They're in trouble!" Serah says.

"Kupo!" Mog says, in worry. "You have to save my people! Kupo!"

Serah knows she has to. Hope hesitated remembering what the Moogles did. But beside that, he decided to save them. Snow joined in almost immediately when his fiancé did.

Half of the Timberwolves and two Dryad turns their attention to the heroes. The rest remains fixated on the helpless Moogles. Serah and Hope attacks the creatures in their Ravager Roles, casting offensive fire magic to make them burn. Snow doesn't really have any fire spells since he's all ice-based. He just focuses on attacking in Commando, figured head on attacks are better then casting absorbed water or resisted ice, and immune wind on the Dryads.

Defeating the first wave of monsters was easy. Only about two Timberwolves got the chance to fight back before they fell. Poor creatures...

The remaining monsters turns their attention. Even though they're no longer fixated, the Moogles don't relax. The creatures do not last long in the fight. The Timberwolves just burns until they are reduced to ashes, and the Dryad was beaten up by Snow.

The Moogles could hardly believe what just happened. Humans defeated the monsters. The monsters were destroyed. Moogles couldn't fight against the beasts, they could only hide and wonder cautiously.

Mog approaches to his people. "I am back, Kupo."

"Mog! Where have you been, Kupo? We were worried sick!" The Moogle chief says.

"I was on my way back until I ran into those Timberwolves, Kupo." Mog explains. "I thought I was a goner. But then these humans saved me and brought me home, Kupo."

The Moogle chief and all the others looks at Serah and the boys, mainly in surprise and confusion. "Humans...saved us?"

Serah smiles with a nod. Snow gives a small chuckle while rubbing the back of his head. Hope just stands there cautious, unsure of what's going to happen now. Everyone is at a stand still, nothing but silence filling up the whole village.

The chief turns to his people and cheers. "Humans saved us!"

All the other Moogles cheers 'Kupo!'. The Moogles starts swarming at Serah, Hope and Snow. At first, they were startled, but relaxes when the Moogles were just hugging them. Serah smiles and laughs, enjoying being adored by cute little creatures. Hope however got too much Moogles on him and ends up falling on his back.

How nice it is for them to go from banned fugitives to village heroes.

The next hour, Serah, Hope and Snow rests at the village. The Moogles were grateful enough to give them food and water. Snow even got his wallet back when they stoled it from him.

Mog and the Moogle chief are by the campfire with the humans. "I apologize for the way we treated you. We don't really get along with humans very well, Kupo." The Moogle chief says.

"It's all right. We're actually use to it when we became l'Cies back on Cocoon." Serah says.

Mog is excited when he hears Serah say that. "So you really are, l'Cies. That's what I sensed within you, Kupo!"

The trio are surprised by that. "What? You can tell we were l'Cies?" Snow asks.

"How is that even possible?" Hope asks.

"We can't really explain. But it's just something we can sense. It's what we call a Moogle Sense, Kupo." Mog says.

"That's amazing." Serah certainly seems intrigued.

Hope would also be amazed. "That might even explain how that one Moogle found us when we were watching them." But something is bugging him. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened between you Moogles and humans?"

The Moogle chief isn't too happy to Hopes question, even through he can't really show it. "It's a long story, Kupo...Long and very dark."

Mog and the Moogle chief explains to Serah, Hope and Snow about their past.

Back when Pulsians were around, there was a human known as Dio Shi Hamil. He was famous for hunting monsters, and a well known mercenary. One day, he was assigned by a theme parked owner to hunt Moogles. He wanted them dead or alive.

The hunter rounded up hundreds of Moogles. Those killed became stuffed for prizes as plush toys while those who lived became slaves, working the games and rides and such. It was a dark, twisted day for the Moogles.

During the War of Transgression, they saw it as an opportunity to escape. Only about twenty of them managed to escape. They fled into the Macalania Woods. There, they were free from the humans, and they built a village hidden deep within the woods, away from humans and out of the monsters sight or reach.

Hearing the whole story, Serah is left horrified while Hope and Snow are speechless. "Oh my...that's just awful." Serah says.

"Well, now I don't blame you guys for being afraid us." Hope says.

"I can't imagine what Patrick would think if he hears about the Mercenary in the story." Snow says.

Mog looks down. "Yea. It was horrible. Those were dark days. Boo-hoo Kupo." Mog says with a sad tone.

Serah reaches over to pet Mog on the head. Mog was startled a little at first, then enjoys it. Serah laughs. "Well, I'm sorry about what you guys have been through. But I just want to let you know we're not going to hurt you. We are just lost in these woods and we're trying to find a way out."

"We need to get to ORPHAN Headquarters, just southeast of the Archylte Steppe." Hope explains.

"Well then you're out of luck, Kupo. The forest is enchanted by a magic spell our founder put through out the woods to trick any humans and monsters. If any human tries to come into the wood, they'll be lost forever." The Moogle chief says.

Serah, Hope and Snow are not too pleased to hear that. "Is there anyway to dispel it?" Hope asks.

"Only a Moogle can do it, so one of us will have to go with you, Kupo. But we can't take any chances with those monsters out there, Kupo." The Moogle chief says.

"Hey. We're all heroes here. You guys don't have to worry about it." Snow says. If I were here, I'd punch him in the head for that stupid arrogance of his. "We'll just take care of the monsters while you guys get us out of here."

Mog and the Moogle chief turns to each other, thinking. They do know they are fighters, seeing as how they have handled the monsters that invaded their village. Once they're done talking, they have made their decision.

"All righty, Kupos. We'll help you out of this." Serah, Hope and Snow are grateful for their generosity. "Mog here will go with you. He knows his way around better then any of us, Kupo."

Serah claps her hands together. "Thank you so much for helping us."

The two Moogles nods. "As soon as your three are ready, we'll leave Kupos." Mog says.

Once everybody is well rested, they make their leave from the Moogle village. The Moogles bid Serah, Snow and Hope a good day and good luck on their travels. They made it out of the village and back to the Seafalls.

Right now, they just stand there, looking around. "Okay...so, Mog. Where do we go from here?" Serah asks.

"Follow me, Kupo!" Mog floats to the uphill path, only instead of following the road, he just goes to the dead end. The blockade of trees and vines.

Everyone seems a bit confused by them. "It's a dead end." Hope says.

"So you think, Kupo." Mog says.

Mog does his magic ability, the Moogle Hunt, unleashing a space time aura that spreads throughout ten yards in diameter. The magic even passes through the dead end. Suddenly, the vines and trees starts to shimmer.

Snow, Serah and Hope take notice of the blockade reacting and are surprised. The vines and trees begins turning gray, then withers and fades. The whole thing disappears, revealing a hidden path that leads deeper into the woods.

"Whoa!" Hope seems pretty amused.

"Well, that's something you don't see everyday." Snow says.

"Hurry and get across, Kupo." Mog says.

Everyone snaps out of their heads and passes through. Once they're in, Mog does his Moogle Hunt ability again. This time, it breaks back the blockade, sealing everyone out of the Seafalls.

"Why did you bring it back up?" Hope asks.

"Because we want to keep the monsters and other humans out, Kupo. We can't risk them finding our village, Kupo." Mog explains.

"Sounds fair enough to me." Snow says. "Let's get moving."

Everyone starts walking down the path. One thing's for certain is that this path is unfamiliar to Serah, Hope and Snow. And that's a good thing considering they have been most likely been going in circles throughout these woods.

The only thing familiar around here are the monsters, but the grouping does seem pretty strange. In the first group, it's Flans and Spooks. Second is Stalkers and Spooks. Third is just a Behemoth. However, in each of them, they have Timberwolves and sometimes a Dryad.

As strange as it seems, they don't bother to just sit and think about it. They take care of the monsters, one group at a time. Mog stays behind and watches them fight.

They rest up a little once they defeated the third group of monsters. "Hey, Mog. Just what are those wooden creatures?" Hope asks. "I've never seen anything like them on Gran Pulse. Not even on Cocoon."

"They're not ordinary monsters, Kupo. They are created by some type of black magic. One that we have never seen, Kupo." Mog explains.

"No way. Who's behind this? A Fal'Cie maybe?" Snow asks.

"We have no idea. We could never find the source of these creatures, Kupo." Mog says.

"Sounds interesting. This would go great with our academic researches." Hope says.

They keep going ahead until they reach a wall, cliff even. Mog does his Moogle Hunt ability, dispelling the illusionary wall, revealing a path in some tree branch arch. Inside the short tunnel are some more Timberwolves with some Beasts.

Once the creatures are handled, they kept going. The journey through the woods is pretty long for the former l'Cies and Moogle. Mog dispels several illusions.

A clear passage revealing a dead end.

A deep trench, for that one, the illusion was there's no bridge, but the Moogle Hunt reveals a log bridge.

A large crashed Cocoon airship. Moogle Hunt removes the ship but shows scraps of metal. Hope, Serah and Snow wondered about the scraps. Made it seem like that airship really was real.

Another deep trench. Moogle Hunt reveals it to be a river, not very deep.

The heroes even had to face dozens of monsters on the way.

Eventually, Serah and Hope are starting to get tired. The group find a wide open area, with beds of flowers all over the field, to rest for a moment. Mog decided to get some rest as well, so he sits on Serah's lap.

"Just how far are we to leaving these woods?" Hope asks.

"We shouldn't be too far, Kupo. Just a couple more paths." Mog says.

"Sounds like we still have ways to go." Snow says.

Snow means it like it's a joke, but Serah and Hope didn't really enjoy hearing that. They're already exhausted, they're just not use to this kind of survival like Snow or Lightning are.

They all rest for five minutes. Snow just lays on the grass, watching the starry night sky that isn't being blocked by the trees. Hope dozed off a little bit, probably been influenced when he saw Serah and Snow sleeping when he returned. Mog is on the alert. "Kupoku?"

The little Moogle floats right off of Serahs lap, facing at the direction ahead. "Mog? What's wrong?"

Snow and Hope are up and listening when Serah spoke. "I sense something, Kupo." Everyone looks at Mog confused. "It's very faint, I can hardly make out what it is...but it feels similar to you three, Kupo."

They wonder what Mog could have meant by 'similiar' to them, then Serah realizes. "Lightning! It must be Lightning and the others!"

"Really? You think so?" Hope asks with a little excitement in his tone.

"Well, who else could it be?" Serah asks.

"I don't know, maybe that Caius fella. Didn't Noel say he was a l'Cie too?" Snow asks.

Serah and Hope knows that's true. "Well...let's find out. Lead the way, Mog." Serah says.

Mog nods in agreement. "Kupo!" Then floats off with everyone else following him.

They run as fast as they can, hoping to be reunited with their friends. Moments like this have intrusions as well. Even through they run to the source of Mogs senses, they still have to fight their way through a ton of monsters. Some small, some large. But would also have to dispel the illusions with Mogs Moogle Hunt.

There were two things they notice on the way.

One is the area of the forest they're entering is different from the rest. While the Macalania Woods is a beautiful nightly enchanted forest, this part of the forest, Dread Grove, is black and withered, starting slightly and small but becoming greater the deeper they go in.

"What...happened here?" Serah asks.

"I don't know. I've never been in this part of the woods, Kupo." Mog answers.

"Damn. It's like there are giant weeds nearby." Snow says.

"More like something is...draining them." Hope says. "Look at the trees. It's like they're...dying."

The second thing they notice are the monsters they encounter. Around here, they are now running into only the Timberwolves and the Dryads, instead of aqua creatures or deadly plants or brutal behemoths.

They all kept going until they reach a dead end. There's nothing but a stone wall surrounding them, with a black dead branch arch for their only entry and exit.

Serah, Hope and Snow look around, wondering. This is a dead end and, as far as they know, they haven't ran into Lightning and the others or anything Mog felt when they traveled up here.

"It's a dead end." Snow says.

"Mog. Are you sure this is the right direction?" Serah asks.

"I'm positive, Kupo. The source is further ahead, Kupo." Mog says.

Hope walks up to the large strange tree, that kind of looks like a massive body, at the dead end. "Well, there's no other way through." Suddenly, the eyes on the tree body glows, only for a quick second. Still, even then, an eerie presence fills the area. "Maybe we went the wrong way or something."

Serah and Snow are starting to think the same thing. The large tree cracks as it begins to move its muscles. Hope, Serah and Snow hears the cracking, only can't make out where its from. "Did you guys hear that?" Hope asks.

The large tree looks down at Hope, it slowly draws its large arm back. Serah and Snow sees what's happening then suddenly worries. "Hope! Look out!" Snow shouts.

Hope is on alert. He looks up from behind to see he's being attacked. Luckily he avoids the attack just when it was about to hit him. The corruptive tree ends up heading the ground. Hope lays on the ground, looking up at the unknown creature astonished. Snow hurries to his side and helps him stand.

The large tree turn its attention to the two boys, then roars deeply as its eyes glow red and its dark aura is revealed on it.

Arborick Blackthorn.

Serah gasps, shocked to see the black magic on the monster, then Mog panics. "What is that, Kupo!?"

Arborick Blackthorn gets stands back up, its movement grows faster once its getting use to not being in still slumber. The beast of black magic roars, and the sticks and logs laying around begins to form into the Timberwolves. Everyone is surprise to see this, the unknown wooden creatures are all coming from this monster.

"Kupokupokupo!" Mog flies away then hides behind Serah in fear. The rest of the group take out their weapons, or in Snows case readies his fists, and they fight the monsters.

Snow starts off as Commando, beating down the Timberwolves. Hope focuses on strengthening himself and Serah and Snow in his Synergist role. Once they're all set up, he shifts into Ravager and burns the wooden creatures with his fire spells.

Arborick Blackthorn bents down to smash Serah and the others with its fists. Its movements are slow but its strength is pretty high. Even the monsters strength was no match for Hope Protect spell. Snow stays in Commando once he defeats the Timberwolves, knowing that Arborick is highly resisted to his frost attacks, and water would only make him stronger, and he doubts his wind elements are any good against it either. He's better off just attacking head on or protecting Serah and Hope.

Serah and Hope focuses on their fire spells and attacks on the corrupted tree. Arborick Blackthorn gets into its defensive stance, feet and claws on the ground, planting its roots. You could say his defenses are similar to a certain two-to-eight wing Cie'th Lightning and the others encountered on a Cie'th stone mission a year ago.

As the monster is rooted, it's absorbing all the nature around the area, causing the trees and plants to wither. "What's going on?" Serah asks.

"That thing...it's draining all lifeforms from the forest!" Hope says.

Not only that but more Timberwolves and Dryads appears. Serah, Hope and Snow knows they can't break through Arborick's defenses, so they focus on its minions.

Timberwolves fight hard and the Dryads are casting powerful Aerora spells. Hope shifts into Medic and casts Cura on himself and Serah and Snow. He focuses on healing while the wooden creatures are here.

When half of the minions are down, Arborick Blackthorn breaks from its roots then returns to offensive stance. The heroes focuses on downing the minions first, then they continue on the corrupted tree. Arborick can hardly endure the fire spells and attacks coming at him. He even suffers more from Snows attacks, not as much as being burned alive, but still.

Arborick Blackthorn digs its claws into the ground. It doesn't activate its defenses, which is what Serah, Hope and Snow were expecting. Inside, sharp thorn roots impales out of the ground they stand on. Hurts like heck for them.

When the attack is done, Serah and Hope shifts into Medic. They restore their wounds while Snow holds off the monster. Just when everyone's fully restored, Arborick shakes its body, causing black pollen to swarm in the air. Not only does the black pollen poison everyone, but it also dispel their defenses.

Sounds like they're in big trouble.

Hope shifts into Synergist to cast Protect and Shell on everyone. Serah focuses on curing herself and the boys with Esuna. When that's done, Hope returns to Ravager and Serah to Shaman, then they both burn the monster away.

Arborick Blackthorn weakens. At its stomach, the bark begins to crack. Snow takes notice. "Hey! It's weakened! Together! One more!"

Serah and Hope prepare themselves. Serah pulls the trigger back on her bowsword, aiming directly at the creatures heart. Hope gathers most of his magic, putting them all on Serahs weapon, enhancing it in flames.

Snow charges in yelling, while Arborick does another slam. Snow dodges the attack. He jumps high and punches hard on the cracked spot, causing it to break open and reveal the monsters black heart.

Snow lands right in front of the monsters feet. "SHOOT!"

Serah releases the trigger, shooting a burning laser arrow. It flies directly at the heart, then explodes in connect. Arborick Blankthorn burns all over, wailing in agony.

[Crystarium Extended - Stage 6]

Arborick groans in pain and tiresome as he becomes weaker when engulfed in flames. Serah and Hope are on alert, either ready to dodge another attack or preparing for its downfall. But what worries them most is that Snow is inches from the monsters feet. He's about to be flatten like a pancake.

"Snow! Get out of there!" Serah shouts.

Snow realizes Serah is right, as Arborick begins to fall. He makes a run for it. First the monster falls on its knees, then its left arm, then the right, each fall nearly hitting Snow. Finally the head and body falls. Snow made it out in time, he stands by near Serah and Hope.

Arborick Blackthorn is dead.

But he's not the only one. The remaining Timberwolves falls apart and the Dryads dry up and withered. At first, everyone was confuse by that, then realize Arborick could have been the source to the monsters life essence.

"That was splendiferous Kupos!" Mog shouts with excitement, along by soaring in a spin and stick the landing, or the airing is more like it.

The fire quickly turns Arborick into ash. Once it was nothing, the fire dies down. Not only that, but the black thorns at the end of the wall where Arborick was standing starts withering, until there's none of it left and reveals an arch path.

"Look. The path still continues." Snow says.

That however doesn't change Serahs mood. She seems down looking at all the lifeless nature that surrounds them. "But...what's going to happen to the forest?"

"Don't feel sad. I can feel the life essence returning to the plants, Kupo." Mog floats down, blowing away some of the ash, revealing a small green sapling. "See?"

Serah spirits are lifted seeing the tiny plant. "Mog's right. The forest will be okay. It just takes a little time." Hope says.

Serah nods in agreement. "Kupo?" Mog turns to the path up ahead. "I can still feel your friends. Up ahead, Kupo."

The team are excited to hear that, then they move on up ahead.

As they travel, they slowly begin to leave the dreaded lands of the forest. They begin to return to the beautiful nature of the Macalania Woods. As they do return to the nature, they also return to fighting the biological beasts. The travel to the source of Mogs senses isn't too far. But it wasn't very peaceful. They still have to fight their way through the monsters.

After a couple of minutes of travel, they reach their destination. The Macalania Spring, which is a lake with a small island, mostly taken by a tree. The area is surrounded by trees as well, and on the tree, below the leafs, are orbs of light that shine in golden radiance.

"Wow. It's so beautiful." Serah says, admiring the scenery.

"This is the Macalania Spring. The holy lake of the forest, Kupo." Mog says.

Hope looks intrigued. "Holy lake? ...Meaning?"

"The water has natural healing capabilities. Some believe they are the tears of the Goddess, Kupo." Mog says.

Hope and Serah are occupied by the amusement of the lake and the scenery. Snow is the only one focused on the task at hand. "So, where are Lightning and the others?"

Serah and Hope realizes Snow is right. "Mog? Are you sure they're here?" Serah asks.

"It's still faint, but I know it's here, Kupo." Mog floats around, looking for the source of the presence he's feeling.

The team stays behind watching the young Moogle. Mog searchs around, only right above the lake, for the presences he'a feeling is moving in different directions. Mog eventually floats in place, at the point when he feels the presence in all directions. He wonders where it could be. It's not in the sky, then he looks down into the lake.

"Kupo?" Mog has his doubts at first, but then believes it. "It's right here, Kupo!"

Now it's Serah and the boys who are confused. They look into the lake. "You mean...in the lake?" Serah asks.

"That seems a bit...doubtful." Snow says.

He's right. There's no living human that would survive in the lake, in the water. As they gaze into the lake, something had caught Hopes eyes. "Wait...I think I see something."

Serah and Snow get a close look into the water. They don't see a who, but a what. Right underneath Mog, the waters shine. "Oh yeah. I see it. What is it?" Serah asks.

"No clue. If we can just pull it out of the lake somehow." Hope says.

And that is when Mr. Hero makes his move. "This looks like a job for the hero." Snow takes a couple steps back. Serah and Hope realized what he was doing just as he runs and then jumps into the lake.

The lake is pretty deep, Snow could barely see past his own nose as he dives deeper. In the darkness, the lake begins to clear up by the reflection of the moonlight. At the bottom of the lake lies a crystalized statue. Snow reaches for it at the bottom and tries with all of his strength to pull it, but the statue is stuck.

He has to think fast before we runs out of air.

Serah and Hope look closely into the lake. They can't see what's going on, but they begin to worry. "He's been down there for a while." Serah says.

"You...don't think he..." Serah doesn't want to think about her husband drowning.

Just then, he bursts out of the water, gasping for air. He's empty handed. "There's some kind of crystal statue in the lake. It's too heavy to lift it to the surface."

Serah and Hope are shocked to hear that. "A statue? Made of crystal?" Serah asks.

"It must be a l'Cie. One who still as yet to awaken from their crystal of slumber, Kupo." Mog says.

Snow swims towards Serah and Hope until he reaches land. "If that's true, how are we gonna get it out?" Hope asks.

Everybody thinks for a plan, wondering how they are gonna get the statue out of the lake, then Serah has one. She summons her crystal tear, from her arm that which her l'Cie brand use to be placed on, tosses it to the air and shoots with her weapon. The crystal shatters, wakening her eidolon.

Leviathan.

A sphere for water appears, creating two figures inside, then it bursts, unleashing water and wakening the Eidolons.

Kairi, a mermaid figure that focuses on healing.

Mizu, a fish-scaly humanoid with tessens for weapons.

The two halves of the Eidolon float around the area. Hope and Snow are pretty amused, mainly Hope. He never knew that Serah had an Eidolon. The two of them stand on opposite ends of the lake and begin channeling their magic. A whirlpool starts forming, becoming stronger, more powerful.

All of the water bursts out of the lake, creating some tornado of water, but the Eidolons create a hole in front of the team, opening a way through. Snow and Hope hesitantly go through the hole. In the lake, there's no more water. It's all bone dry. But they do get a clear shot of the crystal statue.

"There!" Snow says.

Snow and Hope jumps into the lake. Serah stands behind and watch the two. Reach to the bottom of the pit. Once they grab the statue, they begin to climb, only it takes twice as long since they're carrying a heavy load, and Hope isn't exactly all muscle, even after all of his survival training with Lightning during their l'Cie journey.

The second the statue touches the ground on the surface, Kairi and Mizu cancels their power, and all the water splashes back into the lake. The two of them gathers behind Serah. "Serah, that was impressive. I didn't even know you had an Eidolon." Hope says.

"Oh, I did. Back on Cocoon." Serah says.

"Really? When did that happen?" Hope asks.

"After I proposed, she still worried and had doubts about telling Lightning about being a l'Cie. Then Patrick found us and by the time he did...well." Snow wraps an arm around Hopes shoulders. "I'm sure you know the rest."

Hope pretty much can, since he had also witnessed and experienced Eidolons. When everyone was done admiring Serahs sudden Eidolon knowledge, they focus on the crystal statue.

The crystal statue is female, in a position of legs bent, knees up to the stomach level, hands rested against each other like the girl is praying, and the figure also has long hair. The l'Cie crystal of Paddra Nsu Yeul. They couldn't figure out who it could be, not even Mog. All he knows if that the crystalized statue is the source of the l'Cie magic he was feeling.

"This statue...this is what you felt?" Snow asks.

"Exactly, Kupo. No mistaking it." Mog answers.

"It looks...life like. Maybe it is a l'Cie." Hope says.

Serah suddenly realizes something. "Wait...Didn't Noel mention his friend was a l'Cie, but she hasn't awaken from her crystal slumber?" Serah asks.

Hope is catching on what Serah is trying to say. "So you're saying...this thing is...Yeul?"

"Yeul? The Seeress? Descendant of the Godesss, Etro, Kupo?" Mog asks.

Everyone is surprise to hear that. "Descendant? You mean that's true?" Snow asks, surprised.

"I don't know, Kupo. It's just a story I heard from my village. No knows if it's true, Kupo." Mog says.

Well that put a bit of a bum on their day. As the conversation goes on, the hands of Yeul starts to glow, faintly at first on the back of her left hand where her brand rested, then it grows, spreading even. It becomes bright enough for Serah and the former l'Cie and Moogle to notice.

On alert, they slowly step back as it becomes brighter. Yeul's l'Cie crystal, the eye of Etros gate, appears from the left hand. It floats right about Yeul. The team looks at it, amazed but curious, then cautious when they realize what's about to happen next.

A burst of flames appears, circling around the crystal statue, then a large sphere appears in place of the l'Cie crystal. An Eidolon is beginning to form inside the flaming dome.

"What's happening?" Serah asks.

Serah, Hope and Snow are standing, trying to resist the unleashed force of power blowing against them. Mog so easily gets blown, then he grabs hold of the collar of Snows coat. The sphere explodes, revealing Yeuls Eidolon.

Phoenix.

Once the force of winds dies down, they get a good look at Phoenix, and are amazed at its brazing glory.

"Whoa. I never seen an Eidolon like that." Snow says.

"Pitiful humans!" Phoenix says, his voice deep and echoing.

"It talks?" Hope asks, shocked. Apparently Phoenix can.

"You dare disturb the Seeress in her slumber?" Phoenix gazes down at the team. "The power I sense within...the power of the l'Cie...I am aware of who you are. The l'Cies who saved Cocoon. Chosen by the Goddess to become Ragnarok and save it from its own destruction. No matter. None shall come close to the child of Etro! Prove yourselves worry, champions of Pulse!"

Phoenix pounds his fists together then positions himself to fight.

Serah and Eidolons, Kairi and Mizu, step into the battle against Yeul's Eidolon.

Serah focuses shooting in her Commando Role. Kairi casts a few Water spells while Mizu attacks. Phoenix does Soaring Eagle, which only hits Serah and Kairi, Then casts a Fira. Serah ducks to avoid the fire spell, then gets back on her feet and shoots. Mizu casts Watera then does Aqua Dance. Phoenix unleashes Radiance Flare. Kairi heals up Serah with some Cures.

"Let's work together!" Searh says, and the twin Eidolons morphs, transforming into a large serpent. Serah mounts on the Eidolon, right where its shoulders would have been. "We can do this, Leviathan!"

Leviathan starts off with Bubblebeam. It breaths a bubble beam directly at the Phoenix. Next it does Aqua Sweep, sweeps it tail unleashing jets of water rising in three directions in front of the Eidolon. Abyssal Scales, sending dozens of razor scales onto Phoenix. Water Spout, seven water balls shouting out of the Eidolon like a geyser.

Finally, it unleashes its full power, Tidal Wave. "Let's wash them away!" Waters gush out of the ground, some hit Phoenix from beneath. The field is covered with water. Leviathan roars, unleashing a massive wave from behind. It crashes against Phoenix.

The waters wash away and Serah jumps off the eidolon as it turns back to Kairi and Mizu, then the Eidolon twins vanishes.

Phoenix metamorphosis, turning into a blazing bird. How nice. Serah unleashed the power of her Eidolon upon Phoenix, and now the opponent Eidolon is giving her a taste of her medicine. Luckily Hope and Snow joins in on the fight. "Don't worry. We got your back." Hope says.

Hope always had Lightning's battle when it comes to combat. How weird it feels he's doing the same for her sister.

Phoenix does Phoenix Plunge, raises high then dives, unleashing a burning ring when slammed against the ground. Hope casts protection spells on himself and Serah and Snow. Snow casts his Ruin spells on Phoenix while Serah cast Water spells on him. Phoenix does Flame Pulse, blasting a row of three fire rings directly at Snow.

Serah shifts into Medic and heals Snow. Hope shifts into Ravager and casts Water and Blizzard spells on the Eidolon. Phoenix does another Phoenix Plunge, then morphs back into its hybrid form.

Snow is able to attack the Eidolon with his fists since it's in range. Phoenix protects itself in its defensive stance. Serah and Snow both shift into Ravager, Snow doing Blizzard, Blizzara spells. Serah casting Water spells. Their spells hardly break through the Eidolon's defensives, even through water and frost would be it's weaknesses.

Phoenix returns to attack. Snow shifts into Commando and attacks. He blocks most of Phoenix's attacks, after the fourth strike Phoenix has Snow off his feet with Sun Sweep. Phoenix enters a berserk rage, its feathers sticks out of it's arms and shoulders acting like spikes. Phoenix attacks Serah, Hope and Snow in a burst of speed. They suffer several cuts from the phoenix's attacks. After it's tenth rush, Phoenix jumps and spins, sending down a fan of sharp burning feathers all over the field.

Serah and Hope both shift into Medic to heal their wounds and Snow's. Phoenix metamorphosis's into it's blazing bird form. It takes a while for the group to heal up. Phoenix does Sun Spark, dropping a small orb of radiant fire, which explodes upon contact to the ground. Once the group is fully recovered, they continue attacking Phoenix.

Phoenix does Sonic Rush, charging ahead with a side spin, also releasing few burning feathers on the team. Snow shifts into Sentinel, protecting himself with Steelguard. Serah and Hope attacks in their Ravager and Shaman Roles.

"Bathe in the blazing rays of the sun!" Phoenix unleashes Rebirth Flame. The Eidolon soars high, high enough it flies in the center of the sun, blocking it. Phoenix spreads its wings and unleashes a rays of radiant flames in all directions. The blazing radiance harms Serah and the boys.

Phoenix lands on the ground, in it's original form. Serah and the others are down. Phoenix just stands there watching over them. Once they awake, they get back on their feet, positioned to fight.

"Still on your feet? You are tough ones, indeed." Phoenix still doesn't attack, but Serah, Hope and Snow don't let their guard down. The next thing Phoenix does, which surprises Serah and the others, is kneel before them. "You are worthy indeed, humans. I submit."

The Eidolon glows, turning back into crystal shards and returning to Yeul. Serah, Hope and Snow are confused. "What...just happened?" Snow asks.

"I have no idea." Hope says.

Serah and Mog looks closely at the crystalized Yeul. "So, this is the Seeress?" Mog only answers with a 'kupokupo'. "Is she the one Noel is looking for?"

"If it is her, then that means Caius is looking for her too." Hope says.

"Well, no sense in leaving it here. Let's take this statue with us." Snow lifts the Yeul statue.

"Uh, Snow. I'm not sure if that's such a good idea." Serah says.

"I would agree with Serah, but it might be best to take it with us. With the Academia technology, we might be able to find out if she's really the one." Hope says.

"I guess you're right." Serah faces Mog. "Mog. Can you lead us out of the forest?"

Mog nods. "Sure thing, Kupo."

Mog leads Serah and her friends down the path past the Macalania Springs. The path to the exit is pretty clear. No sign of any monsters. But it also wasn't very long. In about two minutes, they made it out of the forest. And just in time for the sunrise.

"Wow. It's so beautiful." Serah says.

Hope stretches, groaning tiresome. "I'll admit, it's nice to finally be out of that forest." Hope takes a look around. Where they are at is on top of the cliff over a trench canyon. "I recognize this area. We're not too far from headquarters."

"That's great." Serah faces Mog. "Thank you, Mog. You've been a big help."

"Anything for you, Kupo. Thanks a bunch for saving my people." Serah giggles then nods with a smile. "Please come visit anytime. I'll leave a hidden trial for you and your friends to follow."

"Thank you, and I will." Serah gives Mog a pats, then the little Moogle returns to the woods. "It's too bad we didn't find Lightning and the others in the woods. I was really hoping we did find them."

"I did too, I just hope they're all right." Hope says.

"I'm sure that they are." Snow says as he places the crystal Yeul statue down. "Knowing them, they're probably worried about us as much as they are."

Serah and Hope knows that's true, even since Lightning and I are involved, looking after their close friends, Lightning's sister and also cause of the promise I made to Nora to protect Hope.

"Well, once we get to headquarters we can send a search team to find them." Hope says. "Let's get moving."

Now they make their way across the fields of Grand Pulse for ORPHAN Inc. After all those hours of wondering lost through the Macalania Woods, they really wish that Fang was with them, so that they could hitch a ride on Bahamut.


	11. Obera

A/N: Would be nice to see Obera back in its heyday, the way Vanille described it before they realized it's nothing more then a forsaken desert-land. Too bad it can't be even be close to that within just one year. But every little bit helps as they say. Now we see how Obera has improved after Cocoon's Fall...Well, environment wise. Can't make any promises with it's villagers.

Chapter 7: Obera

* * *

Obera. Once was small village of nature, where the Fal'Cie laid rest. Vanille and Fangs home.

But after the War of Trangression, when Fang become the incomplete Ragnarok, the village fell and became the abanded ghost town it has a year ago. After the fall of Cocoon, people needed homes, so they were taken to Obera to build a new home here. Everyone was speechless about what Obera was back then and now seeing what it's become. So they had to do something to save the village.

A year later and Obera has approved. The color green has returned to the village, but only on the higher level of the village, and only about five feet outside of it, while the rest is still covered in crystalized dust. Old houses were rebuild and new ones are made, even a few on top of the large tree that grow in the middle of the village. They even rebuild the broken train bridge on top of the village and crossed over the beach. Not only that, but the village has a clear wonderful view of the Crystal Pillar that holds Cocoon.

Like a flower, the village grow, then withered, and once again bloomed. But one thing about this little flower is during it's rebirth, it has grown a thorn on its side.

Fang, Vanille and Sazh ride the train on the overseas bridge. Fang just sits patiently, arms crossed. Vanille looks out the window, directly at the village from a distance, while Sazh is just sitting down.

The young trio came here because they believed something is happening to Obera. In Doomstone, they were looking for information about Caius. What thtey got was that he was meeting something from PSICOM in Obera. Xever sent his best over there, but they never return.

Now they come to investigate the situation.

"I don't know. Maybe this was a bad idea." Sazh says.

"What? You getting cold feet?" Fang asks Sazh.

"No. I mean...I'm just saying. Maybe there's nothing wrong with the village." Sazh says. "It could be just a coincidence. That they vanished when they were heading to Obera."

"I don't know. I have a bad feeling something is up." Vanille says.

"Even if there's nothing going on, we don't have any other leads." Fang says.

Sazh sighs, knowing that is very true.

The train reaches to the end of its trail. There is no station built, the whole track is just the same as it is before it was mostly destroyed. The door slides open, allowing the team to walk right out. They get a good view of the village.

"Wow. The town sure has changed since we we last here." Sazh says.

Vanille turns to Sazh with a smile and a nod. "Yep. It's becoming very naturey."

"Yeah, well not even close to what it use to be. There's still a ways to go." Fang says. "All right. Let's get cracking."

A small investigation around the village begins. Everything seems pretty normal to Sazh, but Vanille and Fang knows something is up. Normally, everyone in the village would be cheerful, but everything just seems...settled. There's even hardly anybody outside, on the beach or the town square.

"It's quiet...too quiet." Fang says.

"I know. There are not even any little kids playing around, just like before." Vanille says. Her tone sounds a bit depressed, but she's still her usual cheerful self.

"I don't know. Maybe they're just tired...or in school maybe?" Sazh says.

Sazh may have a point, but Fang is not buying it. "Well, then lets ask the villagers. We may get some information."

The village hardly has many people out. Most of the houses are locked and only a few are around doing some work. Vanille, Fang and Sazh starts at the schoolhouse, which has been rebuild since it was trashed an abandoned. All they could find inside is some teacher preparing for a lesson. Other then that, the classroom is empty.

That certainly seems suspicious given the idea the kids are not playing out on the fields of Obera.

Fang asks the teacher if there's anything going on, like the rumors she heard from Xever about people not responding in the last couple of weeks, but she claims that everything is fine then asks for them to leave so she can prepare for tomorrows history lesson.

Well that didn't give them any leads.

Next, they ask a group of teenagers by the beach. One of them is just reading a book while the other two are just wondering around. Fang asks the same question to them as she did for the teacher. They're response is that communications have been down since a wildlife attack they had a while back.

Fang believes the attack part, but she does not think the wildlife part is true.

Thirdly, they ask one of the vendors of the flower shop, which is a small hut at the corner before taking the ramp to the upper level of the village. The person running it is different. Back then, it was an elderly women, but now it's some young lady.

When Fang asked the lady where the previous owner is, the lady answered, "She retired and I took over the shop." That's doubtful for the least of Fangs worries. Fang asks what is going on with the village, how almost everybody is acting strange. The young lady seem offended. "How rude! We may be strange, but we are still people! Be gone! You're no longer welcome at my shop!"

That is not exactly what Fang meant by 'strange', but it doesn't matter. Fang and Sazh moves on. Vanille just stays behind and looks at the flowers. "How much are these?" She asks the owner, but Fang grabs her from behind and drags her. "Whoa!"

For their fourth victim, they run into an ORPHAN Guardian Corp soldier who is patrolling the village. Fang mentions about an attack she heard and wondered what happened. But the soldier tells them that it's nothing to worry about and that they had the situation under control.

If that's true, then Lightning and I would have heard something happened since the Guardian Corps were protecting this city. That defiantly has Fang suspicious.

For their last one, a man who was doing some construction to repair the damaged road. They ask if the many knows anything that is going on, the man responces, "Listen sister. I don't want any trouble, but I know nothing. I'm just doing my job."

After all that, they learned nothing. So Fang decides to visit the mayors house, which is at the newly made large house in the northwest area of Obera. Fang knocks on the door, only somebody else answers it.

"Hi. What can I do for you?" The lady asks.

"We like to speak to the mayor." Fang says.

"I'm sorry, but he's away at a business meeting. But please come back in a week. He will return by then." The lady closes the door.

Fang, Vanille and Sazh now think. Fang paces around while Sazh and Vanille sits. "This is getting us no where." Fang says.

"Well? What can we do?" Vanille asks.

"I know. How about we storm into some PSICOM base and demand some answers about Obera and Caius." Fang and Vanille looks at Sazh, almost like they did not expect him to ever aay anything like that. "What? I was just kidding."

Without any leads, Fangs groans in frustration. Vanille suggests that they should probably return to home in New Bodhum, see if they can find the others. Sazh seconds it of course, but Fang gives no answer.

Just then, a villager starts walking by. The second she sees the trio, she stopped, then looks back at them. "I can't believe it." They look at the Villager, confused and unexpected. "You're Fang and Vanille. The Pulsians who lived in this very village."

Fang and Vanille are pleased to be recognize, but they can tell something is up. The womens tone is excited, but her expression seems a bit forced, as well as her smile. And she's quickly rolling her eyes side to side, like she's nervous about something, or maybe someone is watching her.

"Well, guess somebody's pretty popular in their home village." Sazh says with a laugh, earning a punch in the shoulder from Fang.

"Is something wrong?" Vanille asks, noticing the womens nerves.

"Wha? Me? Oh, no, no, no. I'm perfectly fine. I'm just so excited to meet the two people who saved Cocoon." The villager says.

Sazh seems a bit offended by what the young lady said. "Hey! What about me? I was apart of that whole 'Ragnarok-saving-Cocoon' event."

"Oh, don't worry Sazh. You'll get there eventually." Vanille says with a giggle.

"Oh please. Allow me to make you all some refreshments. I'm sure you must exhausted coming all the way to Obera." The young lady says. "Please, follow me."

The young lady leaves, but Fang and the others stay behind. Fang wonders if they really should rest up in some strangers home. "Should we really take up on her offer?"

"What the heck? All that fighting in Dreadzone really wore me out." Sazh says. "An old guy like me just can't keep up with you two."

Fang decides to accept the offer, then they follow the villager. While they're leaving, they do not notice that two citizens, a construction worker and the Guardian Corp patroller, was eavesdropping. And they are very suspicious at their little friends who were having the conversation.

"Did you hear that? They're the monsters that destoyed our world." The construction worker says.

"This is big news. We must report to Colonel Qu'jin." The Guardian Corp trooper says.

The villager takes the former l'Cies to her home, which is a small hut right next to that flower shop they had visited. The villager lets them in, but as soon as they are, she zooms in and slams the door shut. Fang and Sazh are concern about the way she's behaving now. Vanille is aware but doesn't question it.

The villager starts turning on her multiple locks on the door, now Sazh is getting nervous, almost like they're being abducted or something. "Uh...not sure if I'm feeling the hospitality right now."

"I'm sorry, but I wanted to make sure the other villagers aren't listening." She says.

"Why?" Fang crosses her arms, curious at what she's talking about. "What's going on?"

"My name is Chantal. I moved in here about three months ago." Chantal says, in a whispering voice. "I don't know what's really going on, but something has happened to this village."

"Really? Like what?" Vanille asks.

Chantal explains to them the whole story:

Few weeks ago, Obera got an unexcepted visitor, a purple and black man with a large weird sword. Fang and Vanille recognizes him as Caius. But they don't really know the other person, which is Jihl Nabaat in a shrouded hood, who Chantal discribes as a mysterious figure in a black cape. They went to visit the Mayor for the night. There were no signs of any battle and she didn't see them leave. But the weirdest thing is that over timel villagers begun to disappear, one by one, then on the next day, they return in different kinds of behavior. Even the children vanished.

Chantal told them everything she knows. "I knew something fishy was going on." Fang says. "Who is behind this?"

"I have no idea. But I did try to ask the mayor what was going on, but his secretariat told me that the myor is out for a meeting with Primarch Raines." Chantal says.

"Funny, she told us the same thing." Sazh says. "Did she say he would be back next week?"

"Indeed she did, and it was a week and a half ago." Chantal says.

Hearing that defiantly has Fang suspicious. "If she's making up excuses like that, it probably means she's hiding something. Let's get to the bottom of this." Fang says.

The trio devises a plan in order to sneak into the mayors house. Fang figured out a plan. Sazh would stay out and distract the secretariat while she and Vanille sneaks in through the second floor window. They used a ladder to climb up to the nearest window. Fang goes first while Vanille is right behind her, or beneath her is more like it.

Fang figures if the secretariat is making up excuses of the mayor's absents, then something is up at the house. And she's trying to hide it as well. That's their objective. Search the mayor's house for any clues.

The second they're in, they quietly sneak around the hallways, looking for anything suspicious. So far, nothing. They only stay on the second floor, for they didn't want to take the chance of the stairs bringing them into the living room, where Sazh and the Secretariat are having they're little conversation.

Fang and Vanille looked everywhere, they couldn't find anything. They carefully checked everyroom, up until they find a large office, where it has three PSICOM troopers, a Guardian Corp soldier and Colonel Qu'jin.

"PSICOM. I knew it." Fang whispers.

Vanille was about to speak up, then Fang quickly covers her mouth and holds her close, trying to silence Vanille and keep her out of sight. They listen into the conversation that's happening in the office.

"You don't say? Are you sure they're the ones who destroyed Cocoon?" Colonel Qu'jin asks.

"I am positive, Colonel Qu'jin. I heard the conversation myself." The trooper says. "From what I've heard, they're the ones who use to live in this town."

Fang squints her eyes agressively. She knows they're talking about her, Vanille and Sazh. "They're probably here cause they have heard of what's doing on. Lockdown the entire village. And do not let them anywhere near the catacombs."

Fang and Vanille raises their eyebrows hearing that. They know about the catacombs, but they are not very pleased that PSICOM has taken over it. Fang remembers what Chantal told her about the villagers disappearing and coming back days later with strange behavior. Now she understands what's going on.

"That's not all, sir. I've received word from Major Rem. Director Nabaat demends all units to participate on the full on assault against the ORPHAN headquarters." The trooper says.

Now Fang and Vanille are both surprised to hear this. Not just because of the attack on the military headquarters, but something else. "Nabaat? ...You don't think it's..." Vanille wonders in a hushed whisper.

"If it is, then it sounds like Patrick's about to blow a fuse." Fang whispers.

"When we finish our business here, I want the elite troops on the move. Any cadats remind here to watch over this base and keep the prisoners in check." Colonel Qu'jin says. "You're all dismissed."

"Yessir!" The troopers says, all at once.

During that sign off, Fang and Vanille knows they have to make a run for it, before they get caught. While they are, Colonel Qu'jin maks his announcement through the village, and all the PSICON soldiers in disguise, which is pretty much the whole village except for Chantal, who's hiding in the small basement of her house in fear, are listening.

"ALL UNITS! THIS IS COLONEL QU'JIN REPORTING! THE L'CIES WHO DESTROYED OUR WORLD ARE HERE IN THIS VILLAGE! THEY MUST PAY ALL FOR THEIR CRIMES! FIND THE L'CIE AND DESTROY THEM AND MATTER WHAT! DON'T EVEN THINK TWICE ABOUT SHOOTING THEM! REMEMBER THEY ARE MONSTERS! AS LONG AS THEY LIVE COCOON WILL NEVER BE SAFE! THAT IS ALL!"

All the citizens remind their disguises, revealing themselves as PSICOM troopers. Now the streets all over the village are crowded, with troopers, war machines, proto monsters. Even Sazh was immedatly caught in public, by the fake secretor he was distracting. At first, he was confidant at fighting, but then runs away in defeat when a large army comes after him.

While he's running, right near a dark ally, Fang reaches out and grabs him, pulling him right in. They lay low and quiet until the armies that was chasing Sazh runs right past them.

"Oh man...that was close." Sazh says in relief.

"No damn kidding." Fang says, not taking her eyes out of the opening. "Just what are those PSICOM punks thinking? Calling us the monsters?"

"Oh, how great. We're wanted fugitives all over again." Sazh says. "Might as well turn in and hope they'll let us live."

"Yeah. I'm sure they'll lock us up in a prison and leave use to riot in it." Fang says sarcastically.

Sazh isn't too proud to hear Fang say that, even if she was joking. "We're never gonna get out of here alive."

"Not with an attitude like that, we won't." Vanille tells Sazh.

Sazh remembers Vanille telling him that back on Cocoon when they were in Eden trying to save Orphan from Barthandelus and the Calavary. "All right. So what's the plan?" Sazh asks.

"We heard PSICOM is cooking up something in the catacombs." Fang says.

Sazh is both surprised and confused. "The what now?"

Fang and Vanille explains to Sazh how there is an underground training facility right underneath Obera, used for to train hunters of the Dia and Yun clans. It's pretty surprising to so suddenly hear about this. But now PISCOM have taken over the catacombs. Fang believes they're probably using it to hold the villagers imprisoned, which would explains the part about the villagers disappearing and returning in strange behavior.

"So you're saying the villagers we came across are all PSICOM soldiers?" Sazh asks. "That's just insane."

"But it does explain everything. Starting with what Xever said." Vanille says.

"Damn right it does!" Fang says. "We need to get to the tunnels and help the villagers."

Vanille is with Fang, but Sazh just sighs in depression, complaining about how he is getting too old for this kind of stuff. That said, the heroes make their way across the village.

Several groups of military soldiers and war machines are marching throughout the village. There wasn't any chance or ooint of trying to be stealthy, so they have to fight their way through. Fang knows a hidden entrance to the underground training facility which is at the end of the sandy ground across from the schoolhouse.

"L'Cies! Kill them all!" A command shouts, and he and his troopers begins shooting.

Sazh and Vanille gets behind Fang as she defends herself with Mediguard. The guards just keeps shooting at Fang even through their attacks are doing nothing to her. The moment they stop shooting, mainly to reload, Fang shifts into Commando and they all attack the troopers.

Sazh has himself and Fang and Vanille enhanced with Bravery and Faith. The troopers and war machines went down quickly.

Pushing through the enemy groups becomes long and hard for the former l'Cies. But that doesn't stop them. At least not Fang and Vanille.

On the sandy beach, they are now going up against Cybugs and two War Machines known as Warriors. The war machines are like the Pulse machines, juggernaut, only their arms are machine guns and missile launchers. It's not going to be pretty fighting them.

Fang holds off the War Machines while Vanille and Sazh take care of the Cybugs. Sazh gets down letting out a scream when a Wasp Cybug flies towards him, nearly taking his head off.

"Oh man! Where's the bug spray when you need it?" Sazh complains, he gets back on his feet and continues shooting.

Vanille takes down her Cybugs with Thunder spells. Some of them got shocked and electrocuted easily. The moment her enemies are defeated, she helps out Sazh with his. Fang jabs her lance into the War Machine, right where its core would be. The other one is right behind Fang, aimming at her with one of its missile arms. Fang senses the War Machine's attack, then she jumps and flips over the one she was attacking, and the missile ends up taking out the damaged War Machine.

The group takes down the last War Machine before continuing on.

No PSICOM troopers remain after the attack. Fang, Sazh and Vanille made to their destination smoothly. Fang examines the wall facing against the schoolhouse, while Sazh and Vanille are waiting, also keeping their eyes out for any more PSICOM trouble.

"The secret passage should be right around here..." Fang feels around the wall until she reaches a crack that her fingers so easy slip into. "Ah-ha!"

Pulling the trigger, a loud click hits their ears and the stone wall seeps in and slides open, revealing a hidden passage into the darkness. Vanille and Sazh are now behind Fang. Sazh seems very impressed, he has never seen, or even known at that matter, about this passage ever seen they arrived at Obera a year ago.

"Stay close. The training facility is no place for amateurs." Fang warns Sazh and Vanille, mainly Sazh.

"Thanks for the warning." Sazh says.

"Watch it, funny man." Fang says before she walks into the darkness.

Fang may be aware of how tough the training grounds are, but in the hands of PSICOM, who knows what's in store for the three of them. The lights turn on, all the is in here is a single path leading to an old elevator. Fang and Vanille gets on it, Sazh hesitates knowing how old the elevator is. Worn and a bit rusty. Not to mention different compared to the elevator facilities they had on Cocoon.

The second Sazh is in, Fang starts it up. "Okay. Let's see if this baby still works."

Loud banging happens, which startles Sazh. The elevator gate closes, and after a rough shake, the elevator moves downward, slowly at first, then picking up some speed. The whole time, Sazh is worried. "Okay. I want off this train wreck. I'd like to leave in one piece!"

The elevator takes them to the next floor: Underground Training Facility B1. The gates open and Sazh relaxes seeing they made it. "Oh...I knew we'd make it. Never a doubt."

Fang rolls her eyes. She knows he really doubts it. The Underground Training Facility is like a maze, hopefully not as complicated, or strangely confusing, as the one from Etro's Temple. Fang and Vanille walks ahead. Sazh just follows them from behind.

"So, how do we get across in this Training Underground?" Sazh asks.

"The goal is to defeat each of the enemies that are released in each floor. If you manage to do it, the way to the next floor opens." Fang says.

"Oh, please don't tell me there are like a million floors, are there?" Sazh says.

"Nope. Just five." Vanille says with a smile.

"All though I got a feeling our PSICOM friends might be giving us a warm welcome on the fifth floor. Best we keep our guard up when we get there." Fang says.

Already, Sazh isn't gonna like this. Hopefully it doesn't get any ugly.

So now Fang, Vanille and Sazh have to wonder around this floor and defeat all the enemies that are unleashed. Right now, they go against several Beasts, Spooks and Flans. Figures, the first floor, or level, of any training are always the easiest. Come on, people. Give us a challenge!

They find the monsters in different groups and face and defeat them. Fang stays in Commando the whole time, while Vanille constantly switches to Saboteur and Ravager, effecting enemies with her weakening spells and offensive magic. Vanille goes through this cycle with each group encountered. Sazh is in Shaman, doing Flamestrikes and Heat Blitz. Unless he's dealing with the immune-to-fire spooks, in which chase he instead attacks with the wind enhanced Galestrike.

Once the last of the monsters on this floor are defeated, a hidden staircase is revealed at the end of the room. It's only one flight and it just takes them to B2 of the Underground Training Facility.

"It's just like old times, right Fang?" Vanille asks.

"Yeah. Back when we were both in training. Still can't believe they paired us up." Fang says.

Sazh has no idea what they are talking about but doesn't question it.

B2 has more monsters then the floor above. Spooks. Goblins. Torama and few Cie'th. The Cie'th certainly surprises them. "Cie'th? What are they doing here?" Vanille asks.

"I don't suppose it's not part of the training, is it?" Sazh asks.

"I highly doubt it. The leaders would never allow Cie'th to be apart of the training. They must have wondered in here sometime ago." Fang says.

Even through the Cie'th isn't really apart of the training facility, the group fights the abominations. Even if they don't want to, they'll have no other choice, even against the Stamblings. Fang handles the Cie'th while Vanille and Sazh take care of the wild creatures. The Goblins put up quiet a fight for Sazh and Vanille, even Vanille had to switch to Medic to heal themselves.

Fang defeated the Cie'th before Sazh and Vanille finishes off their enemies. That said, she helps them out. This is her fight as well, not to mention Vanille is her closest family.

The second floor monsters are defeated and the next set of stairs are revealed. They take the stairs until they arrive at the third floor, Underground Training Facility B3.

The room is much wider and has more enemies. Tougher enemies in fact. Cie'ths, in Ghouls, Winged and Stamblings. Large Flans and Pulsework Soldiers.

"Oh man, I'm getting tired of this." Sazh says.

"You can stay behind if you wish, just scream if one of the monsters pounces and make prey out of you." Fang says.

Even through it sounds like a joke, it has Sazh all worried. "On second thought, I'm getting my second wind. Wait up!" All though, who knows. Knowing Fang, she could really mean it in temptation to either scare Sazh or get him to stay with them.

On this floor, they have to keep up to their game. The enemies are strong. Sazh casts Bravery on Fang and himself, and Faith on Vanille. The power of strength and magic flows through them. With it, they were able to cut right through their enemies.

Winged Cie'th becomes a problem when they start flying around at high speed, constantly sending razor winds at them. Fang can barely fight, focusing mostly on blocking the attacks. "Sazh! Take those flying creatures down!"

"You got it!" Sazh shoots his pistols at the Winged Cie'ths. One he manages to shoot down, the next was hard to aim due to it flying away at high speed.

I only takes a couple of seconds for the Cie'th to stand still so Sazh can shoot them down. With the abominations gone, Fang is able to return to the offense.

It takes a while. Fang, Sazh and Vanille finally finishes off the monsters in the third floor and a new path is revealed at the end. The fourth floor is pretty big, about twice as much as the second floor. What's worse is that not only Cie'th are wondering on this floor, but also Behemoths, Armadillions, Demons and Pulsework Knights.

Things just got even more ugly.

Even facing against the toughtest of the tough, that still doesn't stop of Pulsian hunter. "Are you nuts, women? We can't take them on!" Sazh says.

"You getting cold feet, old man?" Fang asks Sazh. "There's no backing out now."

"Fang's right. We can take them." Vanille says.

Just like that, the two ladies charging in, mostly Fang whereas Vanille just stops after a distance to cast her offensive magic. They both go up against a Behemoth. Seeing they have the beast handled, Sazh just shrugs his shoulders and joins in on the fight.

Sazh is right about some thing with these creatures. They are pretty tough to battle. Fang spents most of the time during the Behemoth battles in Sentinel, holding off on the monsters attacks while guarding. Against the Armadillions and Pulsework Knights, everyone is in Ravager/Shaman until they broke through the beasts defenses, then Sazh and Fang fight it head on in Commando.

They can hardly keep up the fight, even Fang, once they reached halfway through the monster population of this floof. Battling against the fierce Behemoths and Cie'th is really wearing them down. It's almost as if PSICOM rigged the whole training facility knowing that the l'Cie's would come.

All though I doubt it would have stopped all nine of us if we fought together against it all, but it's just Fang, Sazh and Vanille on this one.

Finally, they defeated the last of the monsters on this floor. The second they do, exhaustion gets the best of them and they collapse, on Sazh and Vanille's backs and on Fangs knees using her lance for support.

"Oh boy. I feel like I'm dying." Sazh says.

"Yeah, well I guess we're dead either way Sazh." Fang says. What she means is it's either get eaten by the Behemoths or die of exhaustion.

Vanille sits up. "Oh, it's not that bad. At least it's over."

Fang knows it is not. She even gets back on her feet, turning to the direction of the staircase that leads to the fifth floor. "Not yet we are not."

The stairs are spiral, and they run deep into the underground. Finally, they arrive at B5 of the Underground Training Facility. Then again, on this floor, it's no longer a training facility. The floor here was once a single path leading to an arena hovering over a bottomless pit. Now it's a large underground base for PSICOM.

"What the...a whole base? Underground!?" Sazh says, shocked.

Fang on the other hand is not too pleased by this. "Tch! Can't believe it. PSICOM has been right under our noses the whole time." Quite literally they have. An alarm goes off.

"ATTENTION ALL UNITS! INTRUDERS HAVE INFILTRATED THE BASE! CODE RED! I REPEAT: CODE RED!"

Up ahead, a group of PSICOM troopers rush in, guns reloaded and aimed at Fang, Vanille and Sazh. "It's our lucky day." Fang takes out her lance and attacks the troopes. Sazh and Vanille supports her from behind. While the troopers are focusing on Fang, they'll back them from behind.

The troopers went down pretty quickly.

"All right. Let's barge in and take the village back!" Fang says, charging right in.

"You are beginning to sound like Snow, woman." Sazh says.

If that wre true, I would not be happy about that.

Fang and the others run down the path, which has many turns and a couple of zigzags. Some going uphill, some going downhill. Through any PSICOM enemy that gets in their way.

The troopers are no challenge, but the hard ones are the armored officers and the War Machines. For them, the l'Cies had to fight hard. Vanille weakening their defenses in Saboteur and Sazh strengthening himself and the girls in Synergist. Against the War Machines, Fang draws their attacks and withstands them in Sentinel. The second everyone is ready, they change roles and go all Blade of Elements (Commando, Commando, Shaman) on the enemy.

After several battles and makeshift turns, they arrive at their destination. The arena spot that was orgrinally the B5 floor of the Training Facility. Vanille and Sazh are upset, while Fang is mad, to see all the villages in cages in the walls of the hallway and cages hanging above the bottomless pit.

Up ahead is Colonal Qu'jin, and right behind him is a deactivated large war machine. "I must admit, I am impressed you have made it this far, l'Cie."

"We are no longer l'Cies!" Fang says aggressively. "Now let the villagers go!"

"Not a chance! Obera belongs to PSICOM now. Not that it even matters since this world will be destroyed." Colonal Qu'jin says.

Fang is irritated to hear the destroy the world part, even Sazh became furious. "Just what in the hell are you saying?"

"Must I spell it out for you, l'Cies?" Colonal Qu'jin asks. "Pulse is nothing but Hell on Earth. Cocoon is our one and only home, our haven among the Fal'Cie." Qu'jin is certainly denying the truth behind the Fal'Cie plan of Cocoon. "And you destroyed it! Took it all away!"

"We understand how you feel, but if you destroy Pulse, that will be the end of everything." Vanille says.

"Figures you say that. But our Fal'Cie leader is already working on a project: The Rebirth of Cocoon." Colonal Qu'jin's words have everyone confused and ashonished. "Legends say that Cocoon was once created by the grand Fal'Cie himself Bhunivelze. A world where humans and Fal'Cie can live together in peace. To do so, he needed a certain key to create such a world. The gift of the Godness, bestowed by the Seeress herself."

Sazh and Vanille exchange looks. They have heard about the Seeress from Noel, and wondered if that ceratin Seeress was Yeul. "By handing over a piece of her power, the Seeress turned to Crystal and gained eternal life. Even now, she still slumbers and we will find her to create a brand new Cocoon.

"Yeah, well you should know that the whole idea of Cocoon was not true! You PSICOM jerks are too arrogant to see the truth behind the Fal'Cie plan." Fang takes out her lance, spins it then grabs hold and she makes her battle stance. "We will not let you get away with this madness!"

Colonal Qu'jin smirks in delight. "I figured as such from you l'Cies. No matter. I shall crush you all right here, and I shall find and deliver the Seeress to the Primarch." They know the Primarch he's talking isn't Raines. It's the PSICOM Primarch. The Fal'Cie leader most likely.

Colonal Qu'jin vanishes, and then almost instantly the large War Machine turns on. It's about three times Fang's size, with shoulder missiles, wrist guns and electro-shock claws. It's a triple threat machinery. Even Sazh and Vanille worries in fear at the sight of it.

"Are you kidding me? Can't we go one day without facing an enemy bigger then us?" Sazh says.

"Quit complaining. We've taken on monsters bigger then this." Fang says. "Let's total this piece of junk!"

They just start off the fight with Fang and Vanille fighting in their Commando and Ravager roles while Sazh strengthens them in Synergist. Colonal Qu'jin's battle machine is immune to all kinds of Saboteur magic. Weakening its defenses is pretty much pointless.

"l'Cie scum!" Colonal Qu'jin activates the electric claws. "I'll fry you all alive!"

Colonal Qu'jin grabs Vanille and Sazh, electrocuting them. Both of them are pretty shocked. Literally. Fang continues to attack the war machine in fury, mainly for Vanille being in pain. Sazh and Vanille were tossed to the ground. Takes them a few moments to recover and to get back on their feet.

Vanille shifts into Medic to heal herself and Sazh. Sazh finishes his enhancement spells with Bravery on all and Shell on himself, then shifts into Ravager, casting Fira spells on Colonal Qu'jin. The sevond everybody's healed up, Vanille shifts into Ravager. "I'm not all smiles and sunshine." No. No she isn't.

Colonal Qu'jin focuses his attacks on Fang. During the time, she shifts into Sentinel and protect herself with Mediguard. "I will not be defeated so easily!" Colonal Qu'jin switches the war machine into defensive mode, planted on the ground, arms and head tucked like a shield.

Fang shifts into Shaman. Going Commando is pointless. They'll have to use their Ravager and Shaman roles to attempt to break through the defenses. "You think I'm a fool?" The war machine launches missiles from the shoulders. Just when they think they're out of trouble, they get pulled right back in.

A war machine that's both defense and offense at the same time. Vanille constantly switches to Medic when thy all become weaken from the missile attacks, heals everyone to full health then returns to Ravager.

After a while, Colonal Qu'jin switches the weapon into offense. Except this time, it's aerial assault. "Let's see how you handle this!" The Colonal is too far away for Fang to reach. She ends up casting only her Ruin magic on it. Colonal Qu'jin attacks his enemies with the rifle guns.

Fang dodges the bullets easily, and deflects him by spinning her lance in front of her like crazy. Sazh just panics and falls back when the bullets hit close to his feet. Vanille just hides behind Fang when she's protecting herself.

Colonal Qu'jin runs out of ammunition. "Damn it! Need to reload!" Now the war machine switches to ground assault. Once it does, everyone attacks, head on from Fang and offensive magic from Vanille and Sazh.

Several attacks are formed from Colonal Qu'jin's war machine. Sazh and Vanille took some of them. Fang the most, some she was able to avoid or guard in Sentinel. Colonal Qu'jin switches to defensive once his machine has taken enough hits. "My defenses are indestructible!"

Fang shifts into Shaman then she, Vanille and Sazh attacks the war machine. Offensive magic spells. Element enhanced strikes and shoots. They blow it all out just to break through the defenses. Colonal Qu'jin counterattacks with the shoulder missiles. Fang endures the attacks, just focusing on beating her way through the defenses. Sazh and Vanille staggers from the explosive impacts. Vanille quickly shifts into Medic even to keep everyone alive.

Finally, they break through the defenses. The war machine suffers major damage and collapses. "Damn it! Impossible! ...Need to repair!"

"Now's our chance to finish this thing!" Fang shouts, holding her lance in the air. "Attack!"

Sazh and Fang switches to Commando and attacks head on. Each slash, shoot and strike of thunder the three heroes put on the war machine, it becomes closer at the great risk of destruction.

"No! No. Stop! Don't do this!" Colonal Qu'jin demends. But they didn't listen. Only hit the machine hard. "Eject! EJECT!"

Soon enough, the war machine is destroyed, ending with a massive explosion. Fang, Sazh and Vanille had to take care to avoid the blast. Luckily Sazh was able to detect the overload.

After coming out of hiding, Fang, Vanille and Sazh look to see the results of their battle. The machine exploded, leaving a hole on the spot where it exploded. "Phew." Fang spins her lance then places it back on the hostler. "That wasn't too bad if I do say so myself."

After their victory, Fang, Sazh and Vanille rescued the villagers from the cages and bring them back to the surface. Takes a while for everybody to get out and return to Obera. Once they're out, they wuickly went on with their normal lives, almost like nothing has ever happened.

Fang, Sazh and Vanille stands in front of the Mayor's house, who wanted to meet them after everything's been done. "We are very grateful, miss Fang and miss Vanille." Sazh is disappointed that he's been left out in the thankful the mayor is giving the two Pulsians. "Hopefully, we can one day repay you both for your kindness."

"Oh, it was nothing." Vanille says.

"Yeah. Just something we'd do for our hometown." Fang says.

"All right, ladies. Let's get back to business." Sazh says. "Mr. Mayor. Do you know anything about a man with a large sword. We were told he visited this village weeks ago."

"Indeed he did." The mayor recognizes Caius. "The PSICOM director came to our village and demend they'd use it for a secret base, but I refused. The next thing we know, they started kidnapping villagers."

"And then they replaced them with PSICOM members in disguise to make sure no one elses what's really happening." Fang says.

"That is right. As for the man with the large sword, he asked if we have seen some person known as 'Yeul'. But we didn't know a thing about this person." The mayor says.

"Sounds like a dead end from here." Sazh says.

Vanille thinks, a hand on her chin while resting the elbow on the other hand. "What should we do now?"

"I have heard they PSICOM were preparing to launch elite troops over to the ORPHAN headquarters." The mayor says.

That was then Fang realizes that's true. "That's right. We overheard that Colonal mentioning of sending his soldiers over there. We've gotta get to ORPHAN Inc. and fast."

"How do you suppose we do that? It's like a thuosand miles from here." Sazh complains.

Fang just smirks. "Leave that to me, funny man."

Fang summons her l'Cie crystal and tosses it into the air. The crystal unleashes power energy and summons forth the eidolon, Bahamut. The eidolon stays shifted into its air craft form. Sazh is surprised. Sometimes he forgets that they still have their eidolons, even though he has Brynhildr.

Once everyone is mounted. The mayor wishes them good luck and safe travels on their journey, and then they take off, heading towards ORPHAN Inc.

[Flashback]

Few days after the events in Kuchinashi, Noel and Yeul return to Paddra.

Yeul explains to both Noel and Caius about the situation she encountered when visitng Bhunivelze. Apparently, he is planning something very big, and possibly dark. The Fal'Cie demended that Yeul should bestow upon him the power of the Goddess to create a new world. Yeul refused. By doing so, Bhunivelze branded her into a l'Cie, with the Focus of granting Bhunivelze the power. She has a choose to either do what he says and gain eternal life or deny his demends and turn Cie'th.

Noel is terrified to hear all this. Caius on the other hand is furious. "He did what?"

"It's true, Caius. Bhunivelze branded me. With the Focus of giving him Etro's power." Yeul says.

Caius growls. "Why that insolent son of a...Where did he even get the nerve to do such a forbidden thing?"

In the ancient laws of the Farseers, the Fal'Cie are forbidden to make the Seeress into a l'Cie, especially with a Focus that could cause great trouble for the fate of the world.

"We have to stop him. How much time do you have, Yeul?" Noel asks.

Yeul shows the brand on the back of her hand. Her brand has all the arrows, and the eye is beginning to take form. "Not much time left. A day at the most. Indeed that Bhunivelze must be stopped."

Caius takes out his sword. "I am your guardian, Yeul. This is my responsibility. I'm gonna go barge right in and give that Fal'Cie a piece of-"

"No, you can't." Yeul says. "No matter how powerful you are, Caius. You are no match for Bhunivelze."

Caius goes silent as he takes in Yeuls words. "Hmm...you are indeed correct. Bhunivelze is very powerful."

Yeul nods. "That is right. I have an idea on how we can stop him, but only if you two are willing to do it."

Caius and Noel are both intrigued, yet concern, about what Yeul has in plan. It's either a good plan, or a pretty bad one. doesn't matter, cause they need to act fast, or it is too late.


	12. ORPHAN Inc part I

A/N: Part one of the ORPHAN Inc. chapter. Personally, I believe that the ORPHAN Inc. would probably be a mixed similarity of Edenhall and Shrine Inc. from Final Fantasy VII. But I guess it wouldn't matter since the building is still being under construction. Which gives everyone who works there a bad time concidering PSICOM is attacking. All that hard work, only to be brought upon the bring of destruction. So sad really.

Chapter 8: ORPHAN Inc.

* * *

ORPHAN Inc. is one of the largest buildings that was ever to be made by human ever since the fall of Cocoon. Probably too soon to say since anything above the 16th floor is still under construction.

But it will become less then sixteen floors once this battle is over.

Right in the yard of the building, war rages on. PSICOM against the Guardian Corps. On PSICOM's side are large warships, war machines, heavily assault missiles and guns. ORPHAN military units with defense plasma cannons, soldiers and assault guns. It's quite a blood bath.

Primarch Raines stands upon the highest available floor of the building, looking down upon the battlefield like a king on his throne. "PSICOM...they just don't know when to learn." Raines acivates his communicator on his wrist. "Send in squadron 7 into the field. Squadron's 9 and 10, guard the left flink."

Jihl Nabaat stands upon the Lindblum deck, watching the battle below her. She smiles with delight. "Director Nabaat. These ORPHAN troopers are not pressing back."

"It's just what I expect from those who choose to live in this nightmare of a world." Jihl says. "Send in the Vemon Reaper."

The trooper stands and salutes. "Yes ma'am."

"Oh. And if you found that Shadow Hunter..." Jihl turns her head over her shoulder. "Bring him to me...alive."

Jihl Nabaat wants me alive. Whatever reason, must be something pretty devious. Can't be any worse then what she has done to me seven years ago, unless she really plans to.

Raines makes his announcement.

"ATTENTION ALL GUARDIAN CORPS AND ACADEMIA EMPLOYEES. THIS IS PRIMARCH RAINES. AS YOU MAYBE AWARE PSICOM TROOPERS ARE RIGHT NOW ASSAULTING OUR HEADQUARTERS AS WE SPEAK. THESE LOW LIFE COWARDS DARE CALL US TRAITORS AFTER EVERYTHING WE HAVE DONE TO SAVE COCOON AND ITS PEOPLE AND THEY TURN AGAINST US ALL. WE SHALL NOT LET THEM TAKE EVERYTHING FROM US. ORPHAN WILL PREVEIL."

Hope, Serah and Snow are a bit far off from where the battle is taking place, like about a thousand meters from the building. They are on their hands and knees, watching everything, while making sure they don't get spotted as well.

"This is bad." Serah says.

"Whoa. Never seen a battle like this. It's like we're back on Eden." Snow says.

Serah and Snow goes on with their conversion. Serah wonders if Lightning and I could be in that mess. Raines could have called us to immediately return to ORPHAN headquarters to help defend it. Snow wonders the same, only he's not as worried as much as Serah is. Though Serah is mainly worried cause she has not seen or heared from us since the explosion back at the temple. She has no clue if we even survived, but she knows Lightning and I better then anyone. We're tough as nails. Cannot be killed that easily.

Then that brings up Sazh and the Pulsian friends, including Noel.

Hope doesn't listen on the conversation. He's thinking of a plan.

They had just arrived after walking for miles when they manage to get out of the Macalaina Woods. They come to the headquarters so the scientists can analyze the crystal statue and translate the tablets they took from the temple, in hope it'll lead them to a connection with Caius and what he is planning.

Finally, Hope speaks. "We need to sneak in."

Hopes comment has Serah and Snow's attention. "How are we going to do that?" Serah asks. "It's chaos down there, we'll get blown to bits."

Even Snow agrees with Serah, and that says alot since he's reckless. Mr. Hotheaded Hero would just burst into that battlefield and take down the enemy, even if he wouldn't stand a chance. 'The Heroes never die!'

"There's a hidden passage not too far from here. It's mainly used as an emergency exit in case something sever happens." Hope says.

"Well then, let's go." Serah says.

Hope escorts Serah and Snow. They take a downhill passage on the cliff, zigzags downwards. But the path is not clear, for they also encounter some monsters. Mainly flying creatures like the Wyverns, Arcangelis and stray Wasps, the Cybugs. On the other hand, there are strange monkey creatures, Hanuman and Sugriva, on ground assault.

Serah and Hope take on the flying beasts while Snow handles the monkeys. Fight aerial with range and magic. Fight monkeys with an ape. That's probably what I would say if I were with them on this battle.

They're just lucky their out of range of the military combat, and out of their sights. Unless they could have been spotted through a telescope. Nonetheless, they still feel unsafe, well mainly Serah and Hope do even with Snow at their side, and they quickly move on whenever they're not busy fighting the wildlife of Grand Pulse.

Upon reaching the bottom of the path, they walk on the ledge path on the right cliff of the trench. No monsters were encountered. The path is smooth sailing.

"We should be close by now." Hope says.

Serah and Snow turn their attentions to the battle in front of the building. Even through it looks like ants and flies to them, they can still see how intense it is.

"Just look at all those soldiers. This is crazy." Serah says.

They all reach the end of a line, which is a small cave within the cliff. "In here." Serah and Snow follows Hope inside the cave. It's barely much of a cave, it's about as big as a medium office in a business building.

Facing the left wall, with a hand on a boulder that's sticking out, Hope lifts it, revealing a hidden keypad. He punches in the code numbers. Granting access. The wall right next seeps in a little then slides to the right. Serah and Snow are both surprised to see a hidden way.

Not really a passage. Just a deep hole with bars supporting as some kind of ladder. "Down here."

Hope goes first. Then Serah. Then Snow. And they climb down into the secret tunnels of the ORPHAN Inc. Climbing down the ladder isn't too easy for Snow, due to the fact he's holding onto the Yeul crystal and the ride down is about thrity feet, then they finally land on the stone tile floor. Hope grabs the lantern hanging on the side wall and lights it with his magic.

Light swallows the darkness, revealing the hidden tunnel to be a dome shaped passage made entirely of stone. "Whoa. Look at this." Serah says, her words echoing loudly even through her voice is at a normal volume. "So eerie."

Snow is amazed at the echoing sounds. "Check it out. This tunnel echoes." Snow now starts to goof off as he starts to shout. "HELLLLLLLOOOOOOOO!" Not only did the echo hurt Serah and Hopes ears, it has them worried and they both shush at him, loudly so he can hear over the echo.

The three of them remain quiet. Once the echoes dies down, they wait. They expect something to happen. To have been spotted by PSICOM or to have attracted some bloodthristy monster. Nothing happens instead.

"Are you crazy?" Hope whispers. "We need to stay quiet."

Snow nods, now he understands. So they beginning traveling through the tunnel. Hope takes the lead while Serah and Snow both follows him from behind. Serah gets a bad feeling about this place the whole time they travel down here, even through nobody else are in these halls.

They travel for a while, then they are startled when they hear a loud wailing. Serah's pretty horrified of it. If Snow didn't have his hands full with the crystal statue, Serah would have jumped into his arms. The wailing dies down.

"What was that?" Snow asks.

Hope is astonished. "Oh please don't tell me."

They move ahead and make a turn. In the next tunnel way are Cie'th, just as Hope feard. From the start, they only see two Ghouls and a Stambling, then when Hopen holds the lantern out, brightening the room. In the darkness reveals several more Cie'th.

"Oh crud." Hope says in disappointed.

Serah is pretty shocked to see all the Cie'th down here. They don't waste the time to think how they got down here. They just fight the Cie'th, bring them down. Snow even put down the crystal statue to lend Serah and Hope a hand, or a fist I should say. The Cie'th fights hard on them. Snow spents most of his battle in Sentinel, holding off the attacks while Serah and Hope fight them.

The last of the Cie'th got defeated. Hope looks down at the corpses of the monsters who were once humans. "This is bad."

"What are the Cie'th doing here?" Snow asks.

"They must have broken out of the underground lab cells." Hope says.

Serah is pretty astonished to hear that comment. "Underground...lab?"

Hooe just realizes he blow the secret. Lately, he's been working on a project with a small team of scientists. He kept the whole thing top secret, even from Lightning and I. Though he probably figures Serah and Snow would have figured it out since the Cie'th broke loose and wondered down the escape tunnels.

"Yeah...uh, you see. I have been working on a top secret experiement. We were trying to see if there was a way to turn the Cie'th back into human." Hope explains. "But I guess the battle must have caused the Cie'th to escape."

"Why would you do something like that? Isn't it impossible for a Cie'th to turn back into a human?" Serah defiantly couldn't believe what Hope was working on. It's so impossible, only a miracle would make it a success.

"Well...yeah. But when we all were facing Orphan, all of us beside Vanille and Fang turned Cie'th, then we returned to normal." Hope says. "Plus, it's like Lightning said: 'We live to make the impossible possible.'"

"'That is our Focus.' That is what she said." Snow says. "But still, an experiment like this...must be very difficult."

"It is. We are making minor progressions. So far, we were able to communicate with the Cie'th for a short time." Hope says.

"Really? That's amazing." Serah says. She's pretty impressd with the small progress.

Of course if I ever found out about the experiement, I might go crazy. For that would mean I killed my own father for nothing when all along, there IS a way to turn him back. To save him for a fate worse then death itself.

"Well, thank you. But we're not even close to figuring out the solution. But maybe we will...someday...hopefully." Hopes tone was normal at first, then doubtful on the second part where he kept adding words. 'Someday' 'Hopefully'. He can't be blamed. Trying to break a Fal'Cie's curse is close to impossible. They'll need a miracle to pull it off. "Come on. This way."

Hooe continues to lead Serah and Snow down the tunnels. Now they have to fight through the Cie'th. Hope still can't believe how much of the Cie'th escaped from the prison holds, but it would have been predictable given the war that's happening above. Under all that ruckus and chaos, nobody's around to keep an eye on the abominations.

The travels in the tunnels become long and hard, a bit staggering with all the explodes on the surface causing an earthquake underneath. It becomes dense that the stones starts to break and fall, barely blocking some passages. They were still able to slip through, but on the total blockades, they had to find another way through.

Serah stops on her feet. Takes a while for Hope and Snow to realize she's no longer moving. "What is it?" Hope asks.

"it's just...I don't see why it has come to this." Hope and Snow doesn't understand what she means, but Serah makes it more clear. "Sanctum PSICOM and ORPHAN Guardian Corps. We all want the same thing, to protect human kind...but why do they have to turn against each other."

Hope and Snow haven't thought of that. All they know is that PSICOM hates Pulse and they had lost everything one Orphan was defeated and Cocoon fell from it's place in the sky. "Well, I see what you mean, but the path PSICOM choose is evil. They even want to destroy the world."

"But if they do that, wouldn't they be taken out as well?" Serah asks.

"Either here on Grand Pulse or back on Cocoon. Those PSICOM guys are all the same." Snow says. "Just a bunch of punks who never learn anyhing. Just listens to what the Fal'Cie demands."

What Snow says it's true, but as far as they all know, the Cocoon Fal'Cie are no more. "That is true, what bothers me most is what is Caius up to?"

"Nothing we can do to figure out. Let's just head into the building." Hope says.

Fal'Cie order is indeed no more. The Cocoon Fal'Cie are gone and the Grand Pulse Fal'Cie are as mindless as the bloodthristy monsters the hunt in this world. Well, excluding Titan.

At the end of the tunnels, Serah, Hope and Snow came across another ladder. Not as long as the first one, but it still took a lot of climbing.

At the lowest basement levels of ORPHAN Inc. lays a hidden lab. Right now the place is abandoned. Shattered glass. Spilled chemicals. Loose cable wires. Damage machines. It's pretty much a death trap here. Not only that, but the prison bars that once contained the imprisoned Cie'th are open. All mostly broken or bend open.

This is pretty much where Hopes Cie'th experiment took place, before the battle took out nearly everything.

A tile on the floor opens a jar. Hope peeks his head out, looking around for enemies of any kind. No Cie'th or PSICOM soldiers to be heard or detected. It is all clear and Hope opens the hidden hole wide open. He comes out first, then Serah. Snow pushes the crystal statue up. Hope and Serah help pull it out, then Snow climbs right out once he was free.

"Oh man. Look at this mess." Hope, Snow and Serah get a look at the lab they are in. It's almost like a ghost town. No worse then Luxerion at the night time. Can't tell which is more creepy at night, the town or the graveyard area.

On Hope's hand, he is not very pleased to see the lab trashed. "Oh man...my experiment...The Cie'th must have trashed the place."

"That's a bummer." Snow says. He spoke too soon, for which the moment he said it, a loud explosion happens and it causes a massive rumbling for the former l'Cies down below.

Out on the courtyard, the battle still goes on. PSICOM and ORPHAN troopers shooting at each other, mostly behind in barricades to avoid getting hurt. Who would really wanna die in a middle of a war. ORPHAN troopers are preveiling. The PSICOM are starting to fall back.

"We've get them on the run!" The Commander announces.

ORPHAN soldiers pushes onward, but that is really a big mistake they could make. "Commander! Something's coming! Up ahead!"

The commander looks up. It's pretty far, like a shooting star, but he can make out what it is. Some kind of PSICOM war machine. Not an ordinary one. As it draws close, the commander can make out what it is.

A large flying machine. Wings and four arms. Two main ones for scythes and two beneath the scythe arms that has gatling guns. Scorpion legs. The whole thing made of steel and iron. Very tough. Very frightening.

Vemon Reaper V5.

The ORPHAN troopers are all shocked to see the large war machine approaching that battlefield. What's more is that it started shooting like crazy with its gatling arms. ORPHAN Troopers ar forced to withdraw, some stay on the field trying to face that war machine, but ends up being overpowered.

"Air team! Gun that thing down!" The Commander orders.

ORPHAN Troopers, in Velocycle and in Aerial Jets, are coming in and assaulting on the Vemon Reaper. They hold it back, but not for too long. This battle is turning into a bloodshed.

The quakes down below settle, but that doesn't calm the former l'Cies. With the battle going on, they know that they will end up being buried alive. They move fast, making their way through the damaged labortary and the monstrious Cie'th or lost Cybugs running loose.

They are lucky. The Cie'th and Cybugs are all focusing on attacking each other. With only half of their energy, Snow, Serah and Hope were able to ambush and defeat them quickly. It's not everyday this happens.

Hope tries to access the elevator, only it does not work. "The power must be out, the elevators don't work." Hope turns to Snow and Serah. "Guess we're gonna have to take the stairs."

Serah is disappointed. All that wondering lost through the enchanted woods was bad enough, now she's gotta deal with flights of stairs...upward. By the time they reach the too of the stairs, the door is lock. The security system must have went haywire during the attack. Hope doesn't have his keycard on him, you'd think the smart one would have been a little more prepared...

Now they have to improvise. They each check the other basement floors. The only one that is unlocked is the door to BF4. The Weapons Room.

They might be able to find something in there to help their escape. Once inside, they noticed the room is crawling with Cie'th. "How did they get in here?" Hope asks, pretty astonished.

But this isn't the time for wondering, they have to fight. Bring the abominations down. Snow holds them off while Serah and Hope attack from a safe distance. The Winged Cie'th comes at them. They both focus on the Winged Cie'th, taking them down one-by-one.

Snow is on his own against the Stambling Cie'th, but Serah does heal him whenever he is injured. Being on his own, you would think that he would know better to defend himself in Sentinel.

The Cie'th are defeated. Serah and Hope took care of the Winged ones then helps Snow finish off his. That said, they take a look around the weapons lab. Theree were still some Cie'th wondering around, at this much Serah now wonders how many Cie'th were taken in to the headquarters for the experiment.

Eventually, they found a keycard that goes up to BF3. Not what they had in mind, but they're a step closer to the surface. "Let's go." Hope says.

The three of them ahead out, but Serah stops once she sees something behind glass. "Hope...what is this?"

Hope and Snow looks at what Serah's talking about. Behind the glass is a six-foot long sniper crossbow, in black, silver and gold steel with a scope above the tigger handle. Serah seems intridged to it because it's nothing she's ever seen. Normally, Guardian Corps wouldn't have bow-themed weaponary, so why would it be here she wonders. She has a feeling it could be about me.

"That? That's a weapon I've been making with Sazh. It's a sniper-bow: BH Type 21." Hope says.

Now Snow seems interested, Fang would be too if she were here. "BH?"

"Stands for Black Hawk. It's a weapon for Patrick. I figured it could make his whole 'Shadow Hunter' title to the next level, where he can snipe enemies and powerful monsters at great distances while still using bows." Hope says.

I don't really have anything against guns, I just prefere using bows. Guns are powerful, but too noisy. As a Shadow Hunter, silence is one of my trademarks, and shooting with a noisy gun can be a giveaway. Plus gunpowder and bullets are way expensive. Arrows can be reuseable for a long peroid of time.

"That's pretty amazing. I can only imagine what Patrick might think." Serah says.

"Well, once its done, we'll find out." Hope says.

The young trio moves onward to the BF3. Storage. The entire area is pretty cramped, many old boxes, chairs, files, desks, ect. that came from Cocoon after the fall. There are no enemies in here, which is good cause the whole floor is pretty tight to get around. Mostly single paths and tight areas you can barely squeeze into. It's like a maze.

The only issue is that they have to find a keycard under all this mess. It beats having to fight mindless Cie'th, but they do not really have much time for this kind of situation. So they split up around the room, cover more ground, to find a keycard.

Eventually they found it, and made it out in time when another quake from the upstairs battle stroke. Caused a major avalanche that pretty much files the whole room. No way in and no way out, and no telling if there's even the slight space inside. The next keycard takes them all the way up to the BF2. There's really no BF1. The space between the BF2 and the ground floor is dense cause the next floor is the Training Facility.

Raines didn't want any trainees blowing magic or shooting guns or missiles through the ceilings into the floors of the ground floor, so they decided to skip a floor to create a dense gap between the two floors. Like a barrier.

The training facility is a wide area with multiple stations.

Weapons rack. Target shootings. Training dummies. An arena for live combat. Simulation Room for virtual combat to teach rookies on how to learn how to handle situations and critical combats. There are no Cie'th in here, but there are seveal PSICOM troopers and officers in here.

Hope wonders how they even manage to get in here. It's possibly that they manage to swipe a keycard from somewhere. If they did, then they must have one that leads to the ground floor.

Now Hope, Snow and Serah know what they must do.

"ORPHAN l'Cies!" The officer shouts. From that shout, he and all the other troopers aim their guns at the trio and fires instantly. Serah panics and cowers with Snow protecting her by using his body for a shield. However, none of that was nessessary since Hope uses his Protect spell to create a wall of shield to block the incoming bullets.

Serah and Snow relaxes once they realize they are protected. The PSICOM troopers stop shooting to reload. While at a disadventage, Snow, Serah and Hope fight. Bring the traitors to the Sanctum down.

One-by-one, troopers fell. Snow, Serah and Hope have a share of their injuries as well, but it's really not a problem for them since they can heal themselves via Medic magic. Snow hardly suffers much since he can defend himself in Sentinel.

Upon defeating PSICOM, they have found a Keycard that leads to the ground floor. Finally, they are able to resurface from the underground. But once they are, they can see how horrifying the battle is.

The lobby is filled with chunks of cement, damage metal, broken bricks and shattered glass with the large chandelier, partly broken, in the center. Almost everyone in the building are corpses of PSICOM and ORPHAN troopers, while couple of ORPHAN troopes by the doors and windows shooting to the outside.

"And I thought the Purge was bad. This is nuts." Snow says.

"It's a horrible sight to see." Serah adds.

Hooe, Serah and Snow searches for anyone who's free to help them, so far, only troopers occupied with the battle outside. They suddenly stopped when they hear something different, like they're being called out. They search until they found someone hiding behind the front desk.

Once they are there, Hope recognizes the one who is calling them. "Alyssa?"

The person is a girl, roughly around Hope's age, older by the looks. Short brown hair dressed in yellow shirt with white vest and shorts that pretty much only goes to her thighs. "I see you made it back. It's not like you to be caught in a middle of a war." Alyssa says.

She says it like it's a joke. But she can't be blamed. Hope spends most of his time doing lab works then going out on the battlefield, mostly because Lightning is still trying to train him to become a soldier. With l'Cie powers or not, he still has a long way to go.

"Who is this girl?" Serah asks.

"Oh. That's right, you never officially met." Hope says. "This is Alyssa Zaidelle. She's my assistant. Alyssa, this is Snow and Serah."

Alyssa looks at Serah and Snow, she's pretty much fallen for Snow's handsomeness, but she truthly knows it's futile cause he's already married. "Oh, yes. I have heard a lot about you two from Hope, Patrick and Lightning."

"Really? I never knew they talked about us that much." Serah says.

Alyssa nervously laughs. "Yeah, well. Mostly about you, Serah. From Lightning and mostly Patrick about Snow, they just tell us about his ignorance, arrogance, stupidity...and a couple of strong words I'd rather not say."

Snow feels somwhat worried to hear that, even thought he should have known that's something I would have done. And he thought I was warming up on him. "So, what's the situation, Alyssa?"

"Nothing serious. PSICOM Troopers invaded up to the third floor. We were able to drive few of them out, but the fight is getting intense out in the lot." Alyssa explains, then a massive explosion happens, sending a blast of smoke through the lobby. Everyone was able to avoid the blast from hidding behind the lobby desk.

The entrance is blown open,mleaving a large hole in its wake. Vemon Repear V5 is within sight inside the building. ORPHAN Troopers and soldies still stand against the war machine, preventing it from coming inside, but they were too busy to do anything about the PSICOM soldiers that are rushing inside the building.

"This is bad. We need to do something about this." Serah says.

"First, we need to get to the lab. Then we'll handle the fight." Hope says. "Alyssa. Can you take us to the lab on the tenth floor?"

"Will do." Alyssa says with a salute.

"Wait. How are we gonna work the lab when there's no power?" Snow asks.

"I've prepared a back up generator. Should give the tenth floor lab enough power." Alyssa explains.

Hope, Serah and Snow guides Alyssa through the lobby. It's crawling with PSICOM and the young assistant can't fight. Snow can no longer carry the Yeul statue, so Alyssa loads it on a hover cart and pushes it to their destination. Alyssa wonders what is up with the statue, why would Hope have it with him. If he is taking it to the lab, it must be for some scientific research, possibly about Grand Pulse's history.

Guess she'll have to wait and see.

The power is still out, they end up having to take the stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs. (They're just like the building is not a 70 foot story like Shrina in Midgar...not yet anyways. Still, was a troubling moment for Cloud and his friends in Final Fantasy VII)

Still, on the way up, they have noticed how much PSICOM soldiers there is on the other two floors. Serah and Snow wanted to help out, so that's what they decided to do. Alyssa is able to reach the tenth floor on her way up. She can keep the statue safe there while Hope and the others take care of the situations.

They start off on the second floor, where PSICOM troopers and Cybugs are attacking the citizen employees. Few ORPHAN soldiers are protecting him, but they're doing a rusty job due to the fact that they are only trainees. They have to act fast.

PSICOM troopers have noticed Hope, Snow and Seah. "It's the l'Cie!" Announcing that, all weapons turn to the heroes and they attack them.

Hope protects himself and his friends with his Synergist magic. Snow charges in with a yell and punches the daylights out of the troopers. Serah stays back and shoots at the troopers, mainly at their weapons to disarm them or blow up the guns. She tries carefully not to end up shooting her husband.

Why is she really worried? He's a defensive l'Cie (Literally due to his high health in the game and being a Sentinel) not to mention he's too stubborn to die, which makes a complete letdown for me.

PSICOM troopers were defeated easily. The ORPHAN soldiers, some of them, become exhausted and fall to their knees. "Is everybody okay?" Serah asks. Some of them barely replied to her question.

That said, Hope and Serah use their magic to mend everyones wounds. Sadly, they can only do so little to restore their energy. They'll just have to rest up and recharge. "Listen to me. Anyone who can still fight, head for the ground floor. PSICOM are pushing hard, trying to break in. The rest of you, get somewhere safe. Hurry."

The soldiers and researches go their own separate ways. The exhaust soldiers go with the researchers. At least it's not a complete loss. Once they regain their strength, they can protect the innocent employees incase PSICOM finds them.

Serah, Hope and Snow help out with the other floors that are infested with PSICOM. The fourth floor was all ORPHAN soldiers instead of employees. But still, they were all trainees snd they struggling to keep up with the fight.

After defeating PSICOM, helping out their allies by healing them, they continue on to the next floor, up until they have reached the tenth floor whee Alyssa awaits for them in the lab with the Yeul statue. By the time they are on the tenth floor, they are exhausted. Mostly Serah.

"Oh boy...that was pretty rough." Serah says as she bends down, hands on her knees, panting. Trying to catch her breath.

"It's a good thing we're taking a break here." Snow jokes. Now's not the time for joking.

Hope looks around. He knows Alyssa is in the lab, but there is something he needs to do first.

Days ago, maybe a week, Lightning and I gave him an encrypted data drive that contains information about PSICOM. He has to assign someone to try and unlock it. In situations like this, it's best to find a way to manage your time. While someone is trying to break open a hard drive that's as tight as a bank vault, he'll look into the tablets and the crystal statue to see what he can learn about Yeul and the Farseers.

"Kazuto Tokimiya." Hope approaches to one of the scientists. Kazuto is about in his twenties, black hair and glasses.

"Hope Estheim. What can I do for you, sir?" Kazuto asks.

"I got something I need you to do." Hope takes out the Data COM Lightning and I gave him. "I need you to decrypt this. It's a flashdrive Lightning and Patrick took from PSICOM. It might hold some of their plans and information."

"I am on it, Estheim." Kazuto takes the Data COM and heads into his lab to begin the work. With that said, Hope rejoins Alyssa and the others in the research lab.

The research lab is a bit dark with green lights shining inside. Alyssa is sitting at the control desk at the end of the room. Right above the desk is a window that leads to a concealed room with several tubes, a large one in the middle with the Yeul statue in place.

"Oh, good. You're here." Snow says.

"Sorry, just had to take care of something first." Hope says. "Is everything ready?"

Alyssa nods. "Of course."

With a few flip switches and several keypad types, they begin scanning the crystal statue. Yeul can only hope that being l'Cie crystal isn't very fragile. That's it's truly unbreakable. The scanning goes from bottom to top, the statue glows in green on the place where the scanner is moving.

Once it reaches the head, it now descends downward. The second it's complete the computer analyizes the data it's collected. Hope and Alyssa looks at the screen closely, Serah and Snow from over Hope and Alyssa's shoulders.

The analyizing lasts for a minute, then brings up DNA identification.

'Name: Paddra Nsu Yeul  
Age: 715  
Eyes: Green  
Hair: Dark blue'

A few other information is listed, some that no one fully understands. But They can tell this is the Yeul that Noel is looking for. The age mainly speaks volumes for them about her.

"This must be the Yeul Noel and Cauis are looking for." Snow says.

"So what Noel said is true. She became a l'Cie...and turned to Crystal." Serah says.

"Is something like that even possible for a Seeress?" Hope asks.

"We only have little knowledge about the Seeress from the Paddra Ruins we are investigating." Alyssa says. "If only we have some more knowledge about the Farseers."

That's when Hope realizes something. The tablets from the temple.

During their research, have discovered the Oracle Drive. The device is created b the Farseers. Contains unlimited knowledge bestowed upon the Seeress herself. However, the ORPHAN researchers have only manage to discover so little of its power. One of them just so happens to be language translation.

Hope places the tablets inside the room while Alyssa connects the Oracle Drive into the computer. Alyssa have the tablets scan, and then they wait as the computer and the drive does their work into translating the ancient language.

They wait for a while until the Oracle Drive opens a window screen.

'_Farseers. Disciples of Etro, the Goddess of Death. Lead by the Seeress._

_Centries ago. The Maker and the Godess created a world, where humans and Fal'Cie life and work together in harmony. Fal'Cie lead by the Grand Fal'Cie himself, Bhunivelze. Farseers were known as the first humans created on Pulse. The Seeress is the leader of the Farseers, to be known as the descendant of Etro._

_The Seeress is a very wise leader, mature despite of age. All knowing. Bearer of the gift of the Goddess: The Eyes of Etro. The power to see the truth. Visions of the future. Lead their people down the right path. The Farseers followed the Seeress to lead themselves into peaceful lives. Yeul. With each death the Seeress Yeul, a new Yeul is created. The Seeress, a single soul reincarnated through an endless cycle.'_

Hope, Serah and noel become speechless reading all of this. They read through the translated tablets. History about Grand Pulse, the world falling into Chaos and the Savor being born and sacrificed. It all leads up to the part about the Seeress era of Yeul.

'_Bhunivelze knew the Fal'Cie were more capable. He believes humans are weak and powerless. He wonders: "Why are we living with these creatures? It is we who are the superior beings. They should be serving us. The Maker made a mistake by giving this world to the humans." Etro knew Bhunivelze was plotting something dark. By doing so, he is breaking the law of the Fal'Cie._

_Yeul went alone to confront Bhunivelze on her own. By doing so, she had become a l'Cie. Bhunivelze dared to break the most sacred ancient law of the Farseers and Fal'Cie and brand the Seeress into a l'Cie. Confused and in fear, the Seeress ran away, desperately seeking and praying for answers._

_Yeul's Focus was a dangerous one: Grant Bhunivelze Etro's power to create a new world, Cocoon, and to control the human race._

_Bhunivelze wanted humans to serve him as a God. Even if he created Cocoon and become a God, he's forgotten one thing: The Maker. He has the power to stop Bhunivelze's evil plot. If He were to summon the Maker, he would be able to become a God. That's when the whole ideal of Bhunivelze's Cocoon was created:_

_Sacrifice the world and summon and defeat the Maker._

_Many Fal'Cie have followed Bhunivelze's ideal, including his sone Lindzel. But his other son, Pulse, was against the whole plot and left them._

_Then it came. The chosen day._

_Yeul had visited Bhunivelze to decide her fate: Complete her Focus and turn to Crystal, or fail it and become Cie'th. Yeul have chosen to complete her Focus._

_For an answer, Yeul has seen the distant future. Nobody knows what will happen. But she only said one thing:_

_"I have seen the future. Both paths will lead to total chaos: A world without the Seeress. A world enslaved and controlled by the evil Fal'Cie. Only one can bring peace in the end. A world of peace, saved by a group of l'Cie. Bound by a single Focus. To save the world or destroy it."_

_Nobody knows what it means, but all they know is that Yeul have chosen to fulfill her Focus. By doing so, Bhunivelze created Cocoon and Yeul turned to Crystal._

_After the Seeress's transformation, the Guardian, Caius Ballad, confronted Bhunivelze. Along with his student, Noel Kreiss. The battle between the Guardian, the l'Cie monster hunter, and the grand Fal'Cie, turned into a chaotic battle. The entire world was nearly destroyed upon the Fal'Cie's death._

_Humans panicked and begin to flee to Cocoon, a world that's now under the order of the Fal'Cie Lindzel. The war between the two Fal'Cies and the two worlds as begin. Giving birth to the War of Transgression.'_

With each new sentence they read, they can feel their hearts stopping. Grand Pulse's history was as hellish as the stories of the world itself.

The tablets read fewer of it's history, about the war between Grand Pulse and Cocoon. About how the Goddess created Ragnarok to bring down Cocoon. Even the next chapter is about what they have learned after facing Barthandelus in Grand Pulse, before they returned to Cocoon.

Barthandelus and Orphan knew about Bhunivelze's plot, and wanted to bring down Cocoon by awakening Rangarok. That explains to Hope and the others why Cocoon Fal'Cie wanted to defeat Cocoon. It wasn't to summon the Maker. It was to destroy the world and save it.

It makes no sense to them, even Hope. But there's no understanding the Fal'Cie or what they plan or do.

Then came the final chapter:

'_Desserted and in ruin. Grand Pulse is at a loss, for the chosen l'Cies of becoming Ragnarok were drained of power, due to an incomplete Focus. With it's Seeress still missing, doom is all the awaits._

_It is said that the Seeress will return one day. To be awake from her slumber. Destroy Cocoon. Free the captive humans. Put an end to Bhunivelze's plot, and the Seeress will finally awake. Free from the burden of her sins.'_

And that's where it ends.

"Wow...this is..." Hope is pretty speechless at everything he had just learned.

"To thing, something like that has happened before." Serah says. "It's no wonder Grand Pulse turned into the bloodthirsty wildlife it's become."

"Even so, there's still much that doesn't make any sense. Starting with Yeul." Alyssa looks at the crystal statue in the corner. "Cocoon fell and all the humans were saved from the Fal'Cie order and plan. Still. Why is she still in crystal of slumber?"

Hope realizes that Alyssa is right. If Cocoon has fallen, then Yeul should have awaken. Which means...there must be some key missing to this puzzle. But what is it?

As the four wonder, Kazuto walks right in. "Kazuto? What brings you here?" Alyssa asks.

"I've manage to decrypt the Data COM." Kazuto sounds serious, but his expression says different. "I think you better see this."

Kazuto takes everyone too his office. Kazuto's office isn't much, a bit small. Alyssa thinks it could use a little work to lighten up a bit. What surprises, Hope, but mostly Serah and Snow, is that Kazuto's office has an unexpected guest.

"Primarch Raines?" Raines gives a respectful bow on the head.

"Serah Farron. Snow Villiers. It's been a long time." Raines says.

"Your excellency. What are you doing here?" Serah asks.

"I have heard from Kazuto he discovered something nefarious within PSICOM's plans." Raines says. "So I wanted to see this for myself."

Hearing that has Hope, Serah and even Snow on alert. Kazuto Opens the windows, revealing all the data that's stored in the drive. Battle plans. Weapon blueprints. The one thing that has her attention is their ultimate weapon they're working on:

Ultima Cannon.

Base on the scale unit, Hope and Alyssa can tell the weapon is large. What surprises them is the fuel it runs on. "Fal'Cie energy?" Hope asks. "Where are they gonna get such power?"

"Wait. Didn't Lightning and Patrick say PSICOM were draining the energies of the lifeless Fal'Cie?" Alyssa says.

He realizes that is what PSICOM was doing. "But...why? What are they planing to do with such a weapon?" Serah asks.

Kazuto digs deeper into the files. He didn't find anything much useful, until he opens the file: "Plan: Resurrection" He opens the file and it shows its plan. A four part plan.

Phase 1: A picture of a crystalized girl with the mark of Etro's Gate above her. They can tell that means the Seeress.

Phase 2: The Seeress in the hands of a Fal'Cie, with a planet floating above them. Bits of the slideshow reveals that the Fal'Cie is creating the new world with the Goddess power from the Seeress.

Phase 3: PSICOM airships transports the weapon onto the new Fal'Cie world.

Phase 4: It's just two planets, but the new one has an Eye in the center. But it shocks everyone when that eye charges up and blasts a massive beam, destroying Grand Pulse.

"They...gonna destroy...THE WORLD!?" Alyssa screams.

Everyone's pretty speechless at the plan they have just discovered. All though Raines just handles the situation with an emotionless expression. He is never so easily afraid of anything. "It would seem PSICOM is a far greater threat then we thought."

"Wait a minute." Snow realizes something. "Didn't that Caius guy mention he was gonna save Yeul...by destroying Pulse?"

Hearing that, Hope starts to put the pieces together. Wanting to destroy Pulse. Working with PSICOM to find Yeul. "You don't think...?"

Caius is being used. PSICOM are deceiving him. They are only making him hunt for Yeul so they can abuse her powers for evil. Complete the Fal'Cie plan that Bhunivelze has started.

"We have to stop PSICOM." Serah says.

"First things first: We must find this weapon and destroy it." Raines says.

"Raines is right. We have the Seeress. They can't complete the plan without her." Hope says.

An explosion happens. Causes the entire building to quake. Everyone, including Raines, staggers from the rumbling shake. "What is going on?" Alyssa asks.

Outside of the headquarters, PSICOM are break into the building. In the lobby, the Vemon Reaper breaks in and multiple PSICOM troopers breaks in. Airships fly closer to the base and the soldiers drop in from above. They shoot their guns as they fall, shattering the windows of the higher levels.

Several soldiers land on the roof of the construction site. Many have land on the higher floors below the site. PSICOM have broken into the base.

The sunsets, turning the skies fiery red. The perfect weather for a bloody war.

Jihl makes her announcement.

"ATTENTION SANCTUM TRAITORS! WE PSICOM HAVE INFILTRATE YOUR BASE! WE KNOW YOU HAVE POSSESSION OF THE SEERESS! OUR PRIMARCH SEEKS TO CAPTURE THE SEERESS TO RESURRECT OUR BROKEN WORLD OF COCOON! IF YOU SURRENDER THE SEERESS WE WILL CONSIDER SPARING YOUR LIFES!"

If I were here, I would say that's a total lie and I would cut that monsters heart out. If she even has one that is.

Raines and everyone else heard the announcement. "Is it me...or does that voice sound kind of familiar?" Snow asks.

Raines knows that voice anywhere, but he refuses to believe it's really Jihl Nabaat. She died back on the Palamecia. "Okay. This is bad." Hope says. "Alyssa. You and Kazuto watch over the crystal statue."

Alyssa and Kazuto salutes. While they guard the crystalized Yeul, Raines and everyone else will take care of the situation in the building.

The war has just begun.


	13. ORPHAN Inc part II

A/N: Part two of the ORPHAN Inc. chapter. One thing I can honestly say it was hard coming up with a backstory like that about the Seeress. Sometimes, I wish some things were so simple to think or do. Maybe then, civilation would be a lot better for everyone on Grand Pulse. Even the ORPHAN Inc would be fully constructed, or maybe they'll repair all the damage PSICOM cause in this battle.

That's just the way things are. Can't do anything about it. Just live with it.

Chapter 8: ORPHAN Inc.

* * *

They cannot believe at what's happening.

Hope, Serah and Snow were just in the lab analyzing the tablets and the crystal statue. They were able to get some useful information, of course what they didn't expect was the learn PSICOM's plan to destroy Grand Pulse, moving all life to the New Cocoon.

So far, the plan cannot happen without the Seeress's power, just like Bhunivelze once did.

Just when things couldn't get worse, PSICOM manage to breach into the building.

Now the three of them stand on the tenth floor, watching PSICOM break through the windows. Troopers and soldiers with heavily armed weapons.

"We are in some deep trouble." Hope says.

The three of them take our their weapons. Once thing's for certain: Snow is not going down without a fight. With a shout, he charges and starts punching down the enemy. Normally, he can being them down easily, but they are pretty sturdy, not going down so easily.

Hope and Serah support him from behind. With their Ravager magic, they'll help Snow bring the enemy down. PSICOM fights hard against Snow. Some of them notices Hope and Serah, especially when they turn Medic and heal. They're smart enough to know that healers are the primary target.

The fight goes on for a while. Ending with them becoming surrounded, all guns and swords at them on all sides. "On my command! Ready! Aim!" Hope and Serah huddle together in fear. Normally, Serah would huddle with Snow, but he's fearless at the moment. Probably because of his arrogance into believing heroes never die. "FIRE!"

Sadly, PSICOM got the wrong kind of fire.

A blast of blue fire explodes at the very end of the raid. "What the?" They all turn. To their surprise, even Hope, Serah and Snow too, Bahamut appears at a distance.

The air craft dragon flies towards the building. "There it is!" Fang says.

"Looks like we're too late. They're in quite a pickle." Sazh says.

"We should help." Vanille says.

Sazh starts to worry. "N-now hold on a minute..."

But Fang doesn't listen. "Hang on you two!"

Bahamut dives down at high speed. Sazh screams as he fights the force of winds against him. Bahamut breaks through the windows of the tenth floor. PSICOM are horrified to see the large Eidolon. "What the hell? Blast that thing!"

All troopers and soldiers turn their attentions to Bahamut and they all try to shoot it down. Bahamut evades the attacks. Serah and Hope cannot believe that their cavalry is here.

"Fang! Look!" Fang looks down where Vanille is pointing.

She sees half of their missing comrades. "Well, looky at what Lady Luck has brought us."

"I don't believe it. It's Fang, Sazh and Vanille." Serah says.

"That's amazing." Hope says.

PSICOM troopers stop their firing, only to reload their weapons. "Now's our chance! Everybody hang on!"

Fang commands Bahamut to attack, starting with Hunting Dive, slam hard on the ground sending many of the PSICOM soldiers into the air, then Bahamut next does Aerial Loop, does a swift loop while unleashing its razor sharp wings to harm the soldiers.

PISCOM soldiers crash to the ground. "Chew on this!" Fang shouts. Bahamut next unless Obliterating Breath, firing a twin laser bream that destroys anything in its path. Pretty scary. "Shoot already!" The commander shouts.

PSICOM troopers shoots at Bahamut. The Eidolon flies around fast, unleashing Pulsar Burst while at it. Firing dozens of missiles at the enemy. Vanille cheers with delight at this crazy wild ride, but Sazh on the other hand is not amused.

"Can we land this bird? I'm getting air sick." Sazh says. That's a first time for an airship pilot.

"All right, funny man. Bahamut! Bring down the skies!" Fang commands.

Bahamut soars at the highest point of the building floor. He starts charging up powerful energy in its mouth, turning into blue fire, and then he unleashes Megaflare.

The tiny orb of energetic fire is sent down, explodes in unleashing a massive wave of blue fire that wiped out the entire PSICOM raid. After that, Fang and Vanille lands on their feet, Sazh on his stomach, and Fang looks up watching Bahamut make its leave. "See you around."

"Fang! Vanille!" They turn once they hear Snow calling out to them. The three of them are excited to see them, especially since the last time they did, it was before a massive explosion at an old abandoned unstable temple had happened.

Snow and Fang fist bump each other, Vanille pulls Hope into a hug, with surprises the boy at first then he blushes a little. Serah helps Sazh stand back up.

"It's good to see you guys. We were worried you didn't made it out of that temple." Serah says.

"Same for you guys." Sazh says. "So, where are the others?"

"Aren't they with you?" Snow asks.

Fang, Vanille and Sazh shook their heads. The others are clearly not with them. Serah and Hope are bummed. "Oh...well, at least we're together again." Hope says.

"That's right, and I'm sure Lightning and the others are okay." Serah says. She does know Lightning and I very well, and, only gotten to know Noel for a short time, that he is just as tough as we are.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your little reunion here." Everyone turns to see Raines approaching. "But we have a situation here." Raines turns his attention to Fang. "Fang."

"Raines." Fang's tone sounds a bit cool. They still remember their little fight right before Raines turned to crystal. "PSICOM are everywhere in the building, and I just got word the arsenal on the lobby floor is high level threat."

A large explosion down below shakes the whole building. Everyone besides Raines staggers from the shaking quake. "Even if we take care of the weapon, we still need to drive PSICOM away from the upper floors." Hope says.

"Then we split up." Fang says.

They all decided. Serah, Vanille and Sazh take care of PSICOM on the lower floors, and the weapon on the ground floor, while Snow, Hope and Fang head for the top and fight PSICOM. Hope leaves the Yeul statue in the hands of Alyssa and Kazuto.

PSICOM troopers are the lower floors are surprised that they have encountered with the l'Ce's. Serah, Sazh and Vanille might not be the strongest in the group, but the armies are still easy going for them. "ORPHAN l'Cies! get them!"

There are also ORPHAN soldiers on the floors fight against PSICOM. Snow and Serah both focuses on their enemies in Commando, Snow holding them off while Serah stays next to Hope and shoots at the enemies. Hope starts off in Synergist to enhance himself and his friends with Protect, Haste and Shell.

PSICOM focuses their attentions on the l'Cie group. No matter how hard they fight or fire at them, their weapons cannot penetrate through their protection. It's hopeless for them. "They're too powerful, sir!" One of the troopers says.

"Then unleash the mech-suit's!" The commander says.

The airforce outside comes close to the ORPHAN building. Right below are air crafts are soldiers in mech-suits that are magnetically locked on the ships. The air ships dive to the 8th floor where the fight is currently taking place. The ships doesn't stop, by the time they pass it, they release the soldiers and they land right in the building.

The mech-suits they use is heavily armed and armored, 1 1/2 the size of a human. Even taller then Snow. Serah and the others are all astonished, mostly in fear from Sazh, to see the new weapons. "What the hell is that? Some kind of giant?" The soldiers focuses their attention on the l'Cie group and start attack. "Whoa! Whoa-whoa-whoa! Wait! Don't pick on us. Pick on somebody you're own size!" One of the soldier raises his fist, targeting Sazh. "NOT ME!"

Sazh nearly dodges the attack on time. The fist ends up breaking the ground it impacts on. "Take out the suits!" An ORPHAN Trooper says.

The l'Cie group focuses on the Battle Soldiers. While Vanille and Sazh just attacks, Serah tries to find a weak spot. She figures that if it has one, might be able to stop them. "Armor's too strong! Can't get through!" One of the other troopers say.

Meanwhile, Hope and his team press on to the higher levels. PSICOM troopers are just as tough as the enemies from the lower floors. Fang and Snow fights off the soldiers while Hope stays behind and suppose with his magic. Snow defends himself against the Battle Soldiers with his Sentinel guards.

The fight goes down to the last Battle Soldier. Snow holds it off, standing his ground. Fang leaps high with a yell and jabs her lance in the power box on the back of the suit. The soldier turns once he hears the sound of impaled metal and the sizzling sparks of cut and loose wiring.

"Hey! Get away from that!" Fang does what she pleasures and remains her lance then jumps off. However, that still doesn't fix his situation. The suit powers down and Snow defeats him so easily in his Commando role.

"Uh, what a bunch of chumps." Fang says.

This isn't really the right time or place for Fang to get sassy. This floor is still swarming with PSICOM enemies. More of them drop in through the broken windows.

Their numbers are endless.

Serah's team pulls through the battle. It wasn't easy for them to take down the mech-suited solders. Vanille and Serah's Thunder spells during their Ravager roles manage to overload the power box, causing the suits to either shutdown or explode. Bit of bad luck for those who ended up exploding.

They don't get too deep into combat. Once the soldiers have everything under control, they will handle the PSICOM situation, allowing the l'Cie team to proceed forward...or downward I should really say.

The sixth floor is where the wounded are being treated. Just to their luck, it is where PSICOM is also attack. Going for the weak and injured. That's just cold blooded. "We've got to help them." Serah suggests.

Vanille agrees with her and Sazh complains, but after getting some glares from the girls, he decided to tag along. They act quickly, there is no time. The wounded need help. But there's too many troopers, and with only the three of them, only so many can be fixated on the l'Cie team.

Sazh figures this would be a good time for him to summon his Eidolon. The ever-burning Brynhildr.

PSICOM troopers are overwhelmed in fear at the sight of the Eidolon. Even so, they still fight it. With the Eidolon in battle, all the wounded are left alone from the evil soldiers, and Vanille is able to help heal them up. Serah and Sazh both focus on helping Brynhildr with the enemy.

The fight goes on and PSICOM numbers are reducing constantly. "It's too strong! Retreat!"

PSICOM are a group of cowards, running away from a fight, just as they fight l'Cie's back on Cocoon through fear. They lack pride. With the troopers gone, the wounded are able to rest easily. Since everything is under control here, Serah, Sazh and Vanille are able to continue on.

They want to help, but they have a mission to stop the invasion on the ground floor.

Back on the tenth floor, Kazuto and Alyssa remain hidden in the safety of the lab, guarding the Yeul statue. If there's one thing they'll count on during this siege is that PSICOM will come for Yeul. They need her in order to proceed to their plan to creating a new Cocoon.

Jihl watches the view of the battle from the mothership. She looks over the holo-projection of the building while it's being scanned. "Director." The general approaches Jihl. "We've scanned the building. There are l'Cies within the building. Seven of them on the move. But one remains still on the tenth floor, and it's radiating strange energy, one we've never seen before."

"Sounds like we have found our prize." Jihl says in amusement. "Send in a small team to infiltrate the tenth floor. Find the l'Cie Crystal statue...and bring it back."

"As you wish, director." The general says.

Both of the l'Cie teams are completely unaware of PSICOM are going to take Yeul while she is in Crystal stasis, only to be guarded by a scientist and an intern assistant.

Nothing good is gonna come out of that.

Serah, Sazh and Vanille all press on to the ground floor. Any PSICOM enemies hardly stand a chance against them. As for Hope and his team. The troops on their level are coming in hot. Fang and Anow can both hardly keep the enemies at bay. Most of them focus on attack Hope and the other ORPHAN troopers, both are hiding behind some pillars or desks or tables to use as shields.

Raines is far ahead of them, near the roof. He's the toughest fighter of all, even if Lightning, Noel and I were here in this siege. All the troopers focuses on Raines, not only because of his strength, but also he is leader of ORPHAN. Take out the leader and the while military unit will crumble. But Raines doesn't worry. He's tough and a former l'Cie, with the power of Medic, Commando and Sentinel. It should really be PSICOM who should worry.

General of PSICOM and his team break into the tenth floor of the building. "Search everywhere! The director demends to find the Seeress!"

They split up, searching everywhere. Not many ORPHAN troopers are on this floor, but that doesn't help Alyssa and Kazuto relax. They can only hope that one of the l'Cie teams will return quickly for their aid.

Meanwhile, Serah, Sazh and Vanille have finally reached the ground floor. "Whoa. We finally made it." Sazh says.

"But look!" Serah warns.

There are countless armies of PSICOM, destroying everything. And by the large hole that use to be the building entry is the dearly Vemon Reaper V5.

"Oh man." Sazh is pretty shocked to see the military weapon. No worse then that mechanical scorpion he and Lightning faced back on the Purge, and they we're human when it happened.

A small group of ORPHAN troopers are fighting against the machine, two of them fighting with Gunblades and one of them at a distance shooting with his rifle. Vemon Reaper V5 slashes one of the soldiers, then kicks it with two of its legs, then shoots at the distance trooper.

Two of them dead, the remaining one knocked out.

With no more opponents for it to face, Vemon Reaper scans around the area. "Uh, you know what? I just remembered I left the water running. So maybe I'll just..."

Sazh was just about to sneak away until he and the girls get caught in the scanning. Vemon Reaper lets out an alarming blare and leaps high, landing right in front of the former l'Cies. Sazh is pretty startled since it was a close landing. "Oh come on now!"

Serah and Vanille take out their weapons. "Come on, Sazh. This will be a piece of cake." Easy for Vanille to say.

The fight starts off with Serah in Medic, Sazh in Synergist and Vanille in Sabotuer. The enemy fights heavy and pretty fast. Serah has to keep everyone alive while Sazh is strengthening their defenses and offenses while Vanille weakens the enemy's.

As the fight in the lobby goes on, the search on the tenth floor continues. So far, Kazuto and Alyssa are lucky. PSICOM members have yet to find them or Yeul. But their luck is not going to last long. They will be discovered, PSICOM will make sure of it.

Kazuto takes a peek through the lab door to see if the enemy are either close or they are gone. Sadly, they are still here and they're right around the door.

"This is getting out of hand. We need to call for help." Kazuto whispers.

"How? All the soldiers are either out there fighting or weak and injured." Alyssa says.

"I don't know, but we can't just sit here and wait for PSICOM to find us." Kazuto says.

"Who's in there?" Kazuto and Alyssa are startled. That shouting came from the outside. And just as they feared, there are solders is standing outside the door, banging on it, tempting to break it down.

They're in trouble.

Back at the lobby, everyone is all set. The l'Cie team are strengthened in defense and power, while Vemon Reaper V5 is suffering Deprotect and Deshell. Just Vanille's luck, it's immune to Imperil and Poison, which the poison part is expected from a machinery. Non organic.

That said, they all change shifts. Serah in Commando, Sazh in Shaman and Vanille in Ravager, and they all fight with their might against the monster. Even through the group is protected, Vemon Reaper fights hard. Vanille is starting to wish she would be able to learn Debravery to weaken the enemies attacks, or that I was here to grant that debuff on the machinery. But instead. She's stuck shifting to Medic, healing and switching back to Ravager, casting her offensive magic. All in a constant rotation.

Our heroes are not the only ones with enhancements. Vemon Reaper V5 upgrades its offense power, instantly enhanced with Bravery and Enpoison. It would also affect Deprotect and Deshell on it, but it causes no effect since the machine is already suffering those effects.

Vemon Reapers attacks are more dangerous. Vanille even ends up staying in Medic to keep everyone alive and healthy. They constantly suffer poison from the monsters toxic enhanced scythes.

"Damn it! The thing is too powerful. We can take anymore of it." Sazh says, giving up.

"We can do this." Serah says. Sazh is just about to complain about the false hope of defeating the war machine, until Serah summons a crystal, tosses it and shoots. The crystal shatters and her twin Eidolons appears. Both Sazh and Vanille are speechless. They too never knew that Serah had an Eidolon.

With Kairi focusing on healing Serah and the team, and Mizu aiding them on their assault, especially using its magic to help increase the enemies stagger point, the l'Cies have the upper hand on the Vemon Reapers assault. If only they have Alexander or a Sentinel, cause the monsters attack at still vicious.

If this battle were in a video game, the attacks would cause either near death with chance of poison or instant death, even at equal level.

Serah tries parrying the scythe attacks, using her weapon as a sword and in her Commando role. Try as she must, she lacks the strength she needs to hold it back, and she didn't get a chance to brace herself for the recoil and the enemy's attack ends up sending her crashing against the wall.

Mizu now becomes the primary target for the Vemon Reaper. The eidolon does not fear against the war machine, so she fights hard with all her abilities. Kairi heals up Serah, using her healing spells to regain the young lady's lost strength and energy. The second Serah is fully healed, she gets back on her feet and rejoins the battle.

Fighting against the Vemon Reaper is pretty rough. The more hits it takes, the stronger it becomes. They're going have to defeat quick or else they will be slashed to bits.

"Let's do this! Together!" Serah says.

On that command, everything prepares themselves to finish off the war machine. Mizu does Deep Freeze, which summons a tornado of ice around the creature. It tries to escape, but Vanille sends metal coils from her binding rod, holding the creature in place.

Vemon Reaper V5 struggles to break me, as the hard ice hits it everywhere within the frozen twister. It's rotator cap on the Scythe arms freezes with rystals of ice shooting out in each direction, that is when Sazh takes the opportunity to shoot. The bullets that hit the frozen parts cause a major explosion that shatters the ice and cause the arms to fall apart.

"Serah! It's all yours." Sazh says.

"I've got this." Serah swifts her weapon into a bow. She aims directly at the Vemon Reaper, then fires a laser arrow. The arrow hits the machine directly at its core and explodes.

With the battle done, the Leviathan sisters bid farewell to Serah and then they vanish. Vanille folds her weapon and puts it away. "Whoa. That wasn't too hard."

"Easy for you to say." Sazh says in exhaustion.

The surviving ORPHAN troopers approach Serah. "Thanks for the help, miss. I thought we were goners."

"Feels weird being rescued by General Farron's sister." The second trooper says.

While Serah and her group are handling things on the ground floor lobby, Kazuto and Alyssa are both still in deep trouble. Kazuto and Alyssa can only defend themselves with pistol shooters. Not going to be very effective against an army of PSICOM troopers whom carry machine guns and rifles. Not to mention are wearing protective armor.

"They're gonna break in any minute. You have any ideas?" Kazuto asks.

"I have one." Alyssa says.

For her plan, she uses her communicator to send out a massive message to all the ORPHAN members. Their best bet in this war is to get the l'Cies to come to their aid. Sadly, that'll be slim since Lightning and I are absent, hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles away from headquarters. And Hope and his team are busy trying to push back PSICOM on the higher floors.

As faith would have it, one of the troopers on the lobby floor was close to allow Serah and her friends to hear.

"Anyone! If you can hear me! We need immediate help! PSICOM have us cornered! On the 10th floor laboratory! The Seeress is in danger! They're banging at our doorst-" Alyssa's message is next greeted by the loud background sound of explosion and gunfire. "HURRY!"

Serah and Vanille are both worried, Serah horrified even. "That was Alyssa. It sounds like she's in trouble."

Just Sazh's luck, things are about to get difficult to run up 10 flights of stairs at a hasteful pace, and then having to face an army of PSICOM troopers at the top to prevent them from taking Yeul. He just can't keep up with his youthful friends.

"Don't worry, we'll handle things from here." The ORPHAN Trooper says.

Serah nods in respect, then she and her friends hurries to the stairs. Sazh complains about being too old for this kind of battle before he follows his team.

Hope and his team press onward. They are already on the 13th floor. Hope has heard Alyssa's cry for help, but there's nothing he can do at the moment. Fang and Snow fight through the army of PSICOM.

"Push them back!" The captain shouts and all the troopers keep their weapons on the enemy.

In no time, the PSICOM troopers are defeated. Few were captured or dead, the rest retreats. "This floor is clear." Fang says. "Let's deal with the next one."

Without any hesitation, Fang and Snow take the stairs. Hope wanted to go and help his friend in the lab, but Fang and Snow are already gone. He cannot protect his friend and Yeul while taking care of PSICOM, even with Alexander's help.

He can only hope someone else will help Alyssa.

As his luck would have it, Serah, Vanille and Sazh are all arrive on the tenth floor, Sazh in exhaustion. But it's Alyssa and Kazuto's luck that have run out. PSICOM has them arrested and they have taken the Yeul crystal statue.

"Oh no. We're too late." Vanille says.

"We can still save them." Serah says.

Serah takes the lead on the attack. She has caught the attention of the PSICOM soldiers. There is enough to hold of their enemies while few were able to take the prisoners and statue. Serah and her friends are going have to act fast before they get away.

Vanille focuses on weakening enemy defenses. The faster they can be defeated the better. Even when all the enemies in present of the fight are sabotaged, Vanille weakens the defenses on the soldiers that are not even participating the combat.

Serah and Sazh just focuses on on the soldiers that are shooting at them. With their defenses weakened, the PSICOM soldiers falls quickly. With their bodyguards defeated, the soldiers doing the escort and delivering were wiped out. Alyssa and Kazuto are rescued and the Yeul statue is safe.

"You two okay?" Serah asks.

"Yeah. We're fine thanks to you." Alyssa says.

Just when everyone thinks they are safe, they are wrong. Instantly, more PSICOM troopers jump in front of shattered windows. And it's not just them. Cybugs, soldiers in mech suits, Proto-beasts. Even out numbered, Serah, Vanille and Sazh ready themselves for fight.

They are completely surrounded, Out numbered by thirty to one, excluding Alyssa and Kazuto. "Hold your fire." Serah and her friends are surprised by the order, but Vanille and Sazh are even more surprised because they recognize that voice. They hope it's not who they think it is. But their hopes are hopeless.

A line of PSICOM soldiers moves out of the way as their director walks in. "Well hello there, Mr. Katzroy. It's been too long, as it not?"

Sazh and Vanille cannot believe at what they are seeing. They might have to get their eyes checked, otherwise they're seeing ghosts. "I don't believe it...Jihl Nabaat?" Sazh sounds completely shocked. Serah is confused. She doesn't know who Jihl is or what happened back in the Palamecia. "Bu-bu-but. But...How is this possible? You were killed."

"So I've been told." Jihl says, her tone sounding a bit bitter. "I know you will be wondering how it's possible I am in the living flesh once again. But don't worry, all questions will be answered in due time. Now...on to business. Hand over the Seeress."

"We know what it is you PSICOM are planing to do with the crystal statue." Vanille says. "We will not let you get away with it." First time Vanille's been pretty serious. If I were here, I wouldn't believe it.

"Well, look who toughen up and gotten serious since we last met." Jihl says. Can't tell if that's really a compliment or sarcasm. Knowing her, it's sarcasm. "Guess we're going have to do this the hard way."

By snapping her fingers, all the PSICOM soldiers responded and prepare themselves for battle.

While Serah and her friends are in a troubling situation, Hope and team are pushing through the PSICOM soldiers on the 14th floor. Hope worries as he has not heard back from Alyssa. When he tries to contact Serah, she does not answer as well. Now he worries for his friends. Even though they carry the power of a l'Cie, they are not well experienced in combat as well as Snow and Fang. Well, Vanille might given she grew up on Grand Pulse.

Still, he trusts that they can take care of themselves, and hopefully the Yeul statue is in safe hands. PSICOM must not be allowed to take it for their twisted plans.

Hope awakes from his worried mind once he sees a bullet coming straight towards him. He dodged it right at the neck of time. "Quit daydreaming kid or you'll be headless before you even know it." Fang says as she holds off a Knight war machine.

Hope nods and puts on his focus. Once he and his team take care of the situation, they'll go check on their friends.

Fang repels the Knights attack, then Snow and Fang switches for him to knock it down with his punches. Fang turns to see a group of PSICOM troops targeting her with guns. The Pulsian Huntress readies herself to fight them, only just before she makes the jump the troopers were blown away, literally from Hopes wind magic.

PSICOM fights hard against ORPHAN. Most of the ally soldiers were shoot down, mainly injured. "Medic! Medic!"

One of the Knights does a full assault by rapidly firing from its guns. Fang and Snow both shift into Sentinel and block the attacks with Steelguard and Mediguard. Both of them taking each of the two guns. With the Knight fixated on them, Hope focuses his attacks on the machine.

He unleashes Thunder spells upon it, the first few strikes weakens it, then a blast of Thundara finishes it off.

"Show no mercy! Give these monsters and traitors what they deserve! FOR COCOON!"

With the l'Cies against them, that PSICOM trooper is out of his league. They will surely lose.

"It's no good! Fall back!" Most of the troopers are running, but one of them stays behind. Instead of fightning, he's shouting at his team that's running to the next floor.

"Hey! Where are you going you cowards? Come back here and-" That trooper is silenced shortly as Fang jabs her lance through him, ending his life.

"Should have joined your little friends on the run." Fang says as she looks down on the dead soldier.

With this floor clear of PSICOM invaders, Hope and his team move on to the next. After that, all that's left is the sixteenth floor which is, so far, the highest point of the ORPHAN building.

The fifteenth floor has no ORPHAN soldiers. It's crawling with nothing but PSICOM. No ORPHAN soldiers to aid them. That'll be quite a challenge and Fang enjoys it.

"It's the l'Cie! Attack!"

All guns aim and shoot. The three l'Cies scatter, avoiding getting shoot at. Hope throws his boomerang, it's not oing to do any good for fighting but he can at least use it to distract his enemies, then he unleashes powerful fire magic. Fang leaps on high ground. PSICOM soldiers focusing on her can barely keep up with her speed. With a high jump, Fang dives into the mass of troopers with her lances jabbed into one of them.

Snow just punches his way through the soldiers. PSICOM soldiers shoots him, but they do little effect given to Snow's tough will and being shielded with Protect and Vigilance.

PSICOM soldiers are falling fast, but the remaining troopers are still standing their ground against the enemy. Fang cuts her way through the army of PSICOM. Guns are blazing but not a single one can harm her that easily. Fang even takes the bullets while using Vendetta in Sentinel and then she uses the energy to fight back against them.

"They're too powerful!" The soldier says.

"Hold the line! We must prevail!" The PSICOM officer says.

The troopers are as stupid as their plan is. Fang and Snow both fight ahead on against the army. Hope heals them in his Medic role, then shifts into Commando and attacks with his Ruin spells. Soldiers fall one-by-one against the non-elemental pearl spell.

In mere minutes, a single fleet for PSICOM soldiers remain. "They're too strong! Fall back!"

The troopers fall back to the next floor. The Officer says behind, but seeing his men gone, he makes a run for it. "We've got them on the ropes now." Snow says.

"Let's end this." Fang says.

The final floor is still under construction. Nothing but metal bars rising and piles of pipes, bricks and steel. Night time has come. Blackness fills the skies with millions of stars in its ocean.

Hope, Fang and Snow have caught the remaining group of PSICOM trying to flee from them. "No where left to run now." Fang says.

The soldiers have their guns aimed at the l'Cie group, but nobody shoots. Hope and his team don't even bother to attack as well, they just wait for PSICOM to make the first move. This stand still goes on for a while until light shines from above, right on the l'Cie team. They look up to see dozens of PSICOM airships, and the Lindblum at the highest point everyone's vision of sight can grant them.

Countless PSICOM soldiers fall from the airships, using Anti-gravicons or rocket packs to support their fall. Land without suffering damage. In no time, the entire team is surrounded by countless hundreds of PSICOM. Soldiers. Troopers. Cybugs. Proto beasts. All kind.

A platform floats down from the Lindblum. In a minute, it hovers right over the PSICOM army. "So. The gang's all here. How intriguing."

Hope, Fang and Snow are surprise to see it's non other then Jihl Nabaat. "Hey...you're that chick from the Palamecia." Snow says.

"I have a name, Mr. Villiers." Jihl says, a bit unpleased. "And I do believe that these belong to you."

Jihl and her PSICOM officers shoves their captives off the platform. Serah. Sazh. Vanille. Even Alyssa and Kazuto. They are surprised to see their friends in trouble. Snow helps Serah get up, Fang with Vanille and Hope on Alyssa.

"You can keep them if you wish, we've already got what we came for." Hope does not want to believe she means the Yeul statue, but he knows that's only false hope.

In the sky, he catches two PSICOM soldiers, flying off in jet packs with the crystalized Yeul. It wasn't hard for him to detect the crystal statue for the moonlight reflects, shooting a moving star. He is now nervous. With the Seeress in PSICOM's hands, they may proceed with their plans and bring the end of the world.

"We know what it is you're planning, Jihl. You're not going to get away with this." Hope says.

"Brave words coming from a child." Jihl says.

"Just why are you doing this? What can you possibly gain from destroying the world?" Fang asks.

Jihl chuckles. "Oh. It's not what I want. It's what Eden wants."

Snow is surprise to hear that. "Eden? ...As in the Fal'Cie? He's alive?"

"Indeed he is. He is our ruler. Our savior. Our haven." Jihl says. "You l'Cies have destroyed everything. Orphan. Cocoon. The Fal'Cies who provided us with everything we need. Cocoon was paradise for a human race, for the Fal'Cie have protected us from this nightmarish world." Fang and Vanille are both offended by Jihl's poisonous words of Pulse. "All of it. Gone. Because of you l'Cies."

"You don't get it at all! The Fal'Cie deceived us! They were going to sacrifice us! Cocoon's true purpose was for the Fal'Cie who have betrayed the humans to summon the Maker and make Bhunivelze a God." Hope says.

"Foolish boy! You have a wild imagination." Jihl says.

"Oh come on, Nabaat! You know it's true. Don't you remember how you died?" Sazh says.

Jihl gives off a pissed look at Sazh's question. Even though her memory of her death is false, it's still unpleasant. "How could I have forgotten? It was you l'Cies who killed me!"

And Jihl tells them everything that she believes it happened.

[Flashback]

_"Your excellency! Please leave!" Jihl takes out her electric rod. This is the time at the Palamecia, where we arrive to settle a score with Jihl Nabaat and Primarch Dysley. "I'll cover your escape!"_

_In truth, this is where Dysley kills Nabaat and the rest of the Sanctum workers within the room, and he reveals his true identity to us as the Fal'Cie Barthandelus. But in Jihl's mind, that never happened. Instead, what happens is that the seven of us stand against Jihl and her PSICOM soldiers while Dysley makes his escape. However, she did not account our strategy._

_I focused my attacks on Jihl out of cold blooded vengeance. Lightning goes after the Primarch while everyone else deals with the troopers. When Sazh was free, he too joined me in my battle against Jihl. He had a score to settle with her for using his own son._

_With all the soldiers defeated, Primarch Dysley was surrounded by the group of l'Cie. Sazh and I both have Jihl defeated as well, and we hold her in place so she can watch the Primarch meet his end._

_With that I tell her: "You took my father away you monstrous bitch! So now we are going to take someone important from you!"_

_That said, Jihl was forced to watch as everyone else kills Dysley, and then I killed Jihl with the same dagger I used on my father. I look down at Jihl's lifeless body, satisfied that my life long vengeance is complete._

[End of Flashback]

The group cannot believe at what they are hearing, Serah the most. It's true that they would believe I would do something like that to Jihl, but everyone excluding Serah knows that everything she said is false. None of that happened.

"You...you guys really did all that?" Serah asks.

"Of course we didn't." Snow says. "We don't know who told you that, but that never happened! It was Dysley! He was actually a Fal'Cie, and he was the one who killed you! Not us!"

Jihl gives a look like there's a bitter taste in her mouth. "Humph." Jihl removes her glasses and folds them. "Eden knew you would say such lies. You are the l'Cies that destroyed everything after all."

"Well, if you're going to play make believe, that's on you. Just tell us how the hell are you alive." Fang says.

"Because of Eden." Jihl says. "When Cocoon fell, he lost a tremendous amount of power and energy. Orphan's defeat have caused the deaths of all Cocoon Fal'Cie, along with all the power on Cocoon. Eden survived, but still dying. Once he had found a new source, he rebuild the Sanctum, the true Sanctum. He needed a director to lead the military, so he resurrected me from death. In the process, he too has branded me into a l'Cie." Jihl's brand glows right through her chest. "A Cocoon l'Cie."

They didn't believe her at first about becoming a l'Cie. But after seeing her brand glow, they know it's true. "Yeah, well l'Cie or not, we're gonna put you where you belong!" Sazh aims his pistol shooters are Jihl. "I still owe you after what you did with Dajh!"

Jihl chuckles in amusement. "Are you sure you should be wasting your time with me?" Everyone wonders what it is she is talking about, then she continues. "Wouldn't you rather be looking for your missing friends? After all, I hear they are looking for someone. But all they're going to get is a meeting with a...special comrade of mine."

Serah is worried. She knows who Jihl is talking about. "Oh no. Lightning. Patrick and Noel!"

"That's right. As we speak, they are probably knocking on deaths door all the way at the top of the freezing mountains of Mt. Fairne. If you wish to save them before it's too late, better hurry." Jihl puts her glasses back on then she summons her l'Cie Crystal. "Until we meet again."

Jihl tosses her crystal to the ground and it shatters from the fall. All that massive unleashed energy blows against everyone, including PSICOM. They all stand their ground to resist the recoil. That is when Jihl's Eidolon appears. A massive humanoid titan with an Egyptian dog face. Wielding the power of fire, sickness and death.

Anubis.

With the Eidolon summoned and surrounded by a large army of PSICOM, our friends here are in deep trouble. "We've got to help our friends!" Vanille says.

"They can take care of themselves. Right now, we need to start worrying for ourselves." Fang says, and she is right.

Anubis stands at the back of the army. The l'Cie divided into two teams. Hope, Fang and Snow. Vanille, Serah and Sazh. Team one takes the northern soldiers and team two takes the south. With teams divided, they take out the soldiers.

Six l'Cies against a thousand PSICOM and an Eidolon. That will be quite a challenge.

Dozens of PSICOM soldiers face each of the l'Cies. Vanille stays in Saboteur and unleashes powerful spells of Deprotect and Deshell on every PSICOM member setting foot on this battlefield. Sazh and Hope both stand in Synergist, strengthening everything. If both of them do it, they'll get their job done quicker and join in on the assault. Serah is in Medic to keep everyone alive until Sazh and Hope get to the defenses, leaving Fang and Snow to assault the soldiers that come at them in Commando.

Once everything is set in Synergist, Hope and Sazh shifted, Ravager for Hope and Commando for Sazh. Three Commandos and a Ravager doing the fighting. It's like a triple threat have brought in the damage amplifier.

The dozens of waves of PSICOM troopers were no challenge. The start of the fight only threw soldiers at them. But as they go deeper in their enemy defeats, tougher foes are coming into the field.

Anubis stands in the background just watching, but overtime, he aids his masters fellow soldiers are casting Deathga, which makes the whole l'Cie team suffer heavy shadow damage it makes it feel like they are dead or dying, and Black Plague, that sends waves of shadowy mists to make his enemies suffer verious types of ailments.

With over 200 PSICOM soldiers defeated, tougher foes start pouring in. Mainly two or three officers in each wave. Serah can hardly keep up with the healing, even since she also needs to heal everyone's illness with Esuna. So Hope shifts into Medic and lends her a hand. Once the healing is under control, Hope returns to Ravager and cast offensive magic at his enemies.

"Take out the girl in pink!" An officer says.

Everyone knows they are talking about Serah. With her healing, she is a threat to the enemy. "Not in my watch you're not!"

A small group of a PSICOM team focuses on Serah. Snow gets in front of his wife and protects her, mainly by fighting back in Commando and, whenever they throw heavy artillery at them, defenses him and her with Wide Guard in Sentinel.

Serah decides to go offense, shifting into Commando and attacking with her Bowsword. Everyone is well healed and also protected in a Synergist protection spells. So it wouldn't hard to take a break from healing. But she thought too quickly once Aunbis launches another Deathga.

Everyone suffers greatly from the dark magic. Serah quickly shifts into Medic and resumes healing. At least the PSICOM enemies are not detecting her as a threat anymore, but that'll return shortly once they realize her healing capabilities once again.

Hope and Sazh both shift into Syngerist. The protection spells have worn off and they must reapply them. It's only going to make the fight harder without protection and attack enhancement spells, which is also why Vanille is still in Saboteur, weakening enemy defenses with her aliment spells.

400 PSICOM defeated. Troopers and Officers are still rolling in, but now comes Aerial Snipers and Cybugs. This fight is getting tougher, even our heroes are hardly able to keep up and the healing spells of Cura is doing so little with the missing energy.

"Surrender now l'Cie!"

They refuse to surrender. They keep on fighting, and Anubis is making sure they will lose their power and energy with his dark magic. He even unleashes another Black Plague among them.

Their chances of defeat has risen. Hope shifts into Medic to help Serah heal everyone. With the ailments gone, he returns to Ravager. Fang and Snow both put up a hard fight. Sazh would to, only he is fighting with his guns instead of his own hands, not just talking about Snow but also with Fang using her lance up close and with her own strength. Meanwhile the pistol shooters do their own st goth for Sazh. The power's all in the bullets.

What they have failed to realize is that Jihl is making her getaway with the Yeul statue. While they're busy fighting the army, she makes her escape. Then again, would the same thing still apply if the army did come after them? Given the fact she warned them about Lightning, Noel and I's location and situation.

But it's too late to change plans.

The army grows reckless against the team of l'Cies. They may have the numbers, but that makes their match no different. No equal even. Who has the upper match? Who can say? But neither team is stepping out from the field of combat.

Fang and Snow take on the ground soldiers. Sazh is focus on shooting the aerial soldiers. Hope constantly switches targets, throwing every spell he knows at them.

600 soldiers defeated. Now the heavily artillery is coming in. Knights are coming into combat. Now Snow is going have to be in Sentinel to whole off the War Machines. As well as many other soldiers fighting. It's not a total loss. At least he has his wife to heal him.

"Destroy the l'Cies at all cost!" The officer shouts.

The battle gets more hard for the l'Cie heroes. Anubis's long ranged attacks, which he just triggered another Deathga, is already hard enough, but the War Machines made the fight even harder. After Deathga is unleashed, not only did Hope help Serah heal, but Vanille also have to switch roles and heal restore everyone's lost energy and health.

Once everyone is fully restored, Vanille and Hope shifts back into their previous roles, but that still doesn't mean they're out of the healing job. Serah barely struggles to keep everyone alive. Constantly, Hope shifts into Medic and lend Serah a hand with the healing.

"They're running exhausted! Finish them!" A trooper shouts.

Fang takes out several PSICOM troopers, finishing off the last one by jabbing her lance through him, before she shouts. "You jerks want a piece of all of us! Well then come and get it!"

Fangs taunting has certainly grabbed the attention of the army. Groups of soldiers come after her while many others still focus on Snow the tank or Serah the healer. Aerial Troopers are coming at them hard with gaining the altitude. Sazh shoots his pistols none stop, even when he's trying to make aim at the enemy.

Knights are the hardest to defeat, even with Ravager electricity or Synergist Enthunder mixed with Commando attacks. The team are lucky there aren't very much of them like the rest of the verious PSICOM army. Aunbis unleashes another Black Plague, not even Snows defenses can save himself or, even with Wide Guard activate, his friends and wife.

After quick healing, Hope and Vanille both focus on the battles. This time, Hope instead shifts into Commando and cast so many ruins at multiple enemies, he would be creating a Ruin Storm.

Over 800 are defeated. No new enemies come in, but the fight is getting tougher as our l'Cie heroes starts to become exhausted, and Aunbis's on coming attacks at not helping them with their situation.

"We have to keep fightning." Fang says.

"Easy for you to say." Sazh complains. "I'm too old for this kind of stuff."

"We're almost there. Don't give up." Serah encourages.

PSICOM comes at them, hard. But the l'Cie team will not back down. Soon, numbers begin to reduce. Heal gets a whole lot easier for Serah, and everyone is able to focus on the heavily armed war machines over the weakling soldiers.

999 defeated. There are no more PSICOM soldiers, and everyone ends up collapsing, mainly on their knees and hands, heavily breathing in exhaustion. They have won this fight. Or so they think.

Just when they're about to break down in exhaustion, Aunbis leaps high and lands right in front of them, causing a massive quake. Everybody is surprised. Aunbis is roughly as tell as Alexander, and they know he's pretty powerful for an Eidolon.

"Oh great. And here I thought it was too easy." Sazh shouts. He means it as a joke.

Everyone gathers as much strength and energy they have left and they ready themselves for battle. "Come and get it, ugly." Fang shouts.

Aunbis is just one enemy, and yet he is very powerful. Serah and everyone else, even Sazh, believes they would rather fight another 1000 soldiers.

Snow holds of Aunbis, provoking it in Sentinel then defeating himself with Steelguard. Aunbis attacks Snow, with slow and single, but powerful, punches and stomps. The attacks hardly do much hurt for Snow since he is protected. Everyone else attacks in Commando, Ravager and Shaman. Vanille stays in Saboteur to weaken Aunbis, but only Deprotect and Deshall can inflict the Eidolon.

Aunbis still uses his two deadly abilities: Deathga and Black Plague, but he has more then those now that he is in close combat. Sandstorm, summoning a massive sandy tornado like Aeroga. An element fusion of earth and wind. Rays of Sun, shooting bolts of fireballs, causing a fiery explosion upon contact. Entombed, a similar Quake spell.

Serah and Hope and their teams stand strong against the Eidolon. Whenever someone is weaken, one of them shifts into Medic and heals everyone. Vanille even shifts back into Ravager and cast Blizzard, Water and Banish spells, which happen to be the Eidolon's weakness.

Anubis focuses on Snow. He hardly suffers much damage, so that allows for everyone to go offensive, especially Serah. Fang, Hope and Sazh on Commando while Serah and Vanille are both in Ravager.

Aunbis grows weak, starts staggering from the effects of Ravager attacks. Even so, he still stands strong, fights back hard. Sazh and Hope aims high, for the Eidolons head. Fang aims low, going for the legs and feet. Upon growing weak, Aunbis's eyes glows red, and he starts to grow berserk.

Aunbis unleashes his powerful attack: Star of Death, which summons a large meteor to rain down and crush onto the l'Cie team. If this was a game, the attack would knock everyone down to 1 HP, regardless of armor, level, maximum HP, Synergist buffs, Saboteurs ailment appliance on the enemy and Sentinel protection/ability.

Serah, Vanille and Hope all switch to Medic to quickly heal everyone up before Aunbis's next attack. Snow can hardly hold him off, even with Mediguard to protect and restore bits of his lost health and energy. Sazh and Fang keeps fighting the Eidolon head on, even knocking on death's door for Fang she still hits strong.

With everyone all heal up, Serah, Hope and Vanille are exhausted. They even take a moment to catch their breath before they can even continue to fight.

"This thing...it's too powerful." Hope says.

"We have to...have to keep going." Serah says.

"We can't run. Not here. Not now." Vanille says.

With that said, they shift back into their prevous roles and attack the Eidolon. Anubis is powerful one his last stand. Even after unleashing Star of Death, he instantly does Ra's Blessing, which enhances Aunbis with incredible strength, speed and protection. Vanille even shifts into Saboteur instead to dispel the buffs.

The fight lasts for about three minutes, the l'Cie team had some major bumps on the road, but they push through. Soon enough, Aunbis is defeated.

[Crystarium Extended - Stage 6]

Aunbis hardly shows any sign of defeat, but the l'Cie team is certainly showing signs of exhaustion. Poor form of battle stances and panting. Finally, Aunbis gave in. The eidolon collapses on his knees then falls forward. The glows then dissolves into little Crystal shards.

With Aunbis defeated, everyone broken down in exhaustion, letting out a loud tiresome sigh and falling either on their back, knees or butt.

Fighting again nearly one thousand PSICOM military units and the Eidolon of their director really took out a lot of them. What's even more surprising is how Sazh or Serah manage to extend their limits due to age and lack of experience of adventuring and on the battlefield, even though Serah has had quite a few battles during her training sessions with Lightning and I.

PSICOM is in full retreat, and ORPHAN does not give the chase. They just celebrate their victory and get to work on repairing the damages caused and help mend the wounded.

Once everyone got their energy back, they all meet with Raines in the ground floor lobby. "You have all done an excellent job back there. If you six haven't shown up, PSICOM would have had us defeated."

"But we still lost this battle." Hope says. "They got away with the Seeress Yeul."

"Hope's right. With the power of the Seeress in the hands of PSICOM, the whole world is basically doomed." Alyssa says.

"We have face and defeated the end of the world once, and we shall do it again." Raines says. "We still have time to stop PSICOM before they proceed with their plans."

"But what about Lightning and the others?" Serah asks. Everyone turns their attention to Serah when she calls out like that. "They are in danger. Jihl has set a trap for them. We have to help them."

"Hey, I'm with you on that, but Lightning and Patrick are tough, and so does that Noel guy. But heroes must think about saving the world." Snow says.

It's a tough decision for everyone to make. To stop PSICOM or go rescue their friends from their doom. Finally, Raines has come to an conclusion. "Go. Find your friends. ORPHAN will track down PSICOM and stop this weapon."

Everyone else agrees with Raines plan. ORPHAN soldiers rest up and prepare themselves for battle and search for the Yeul statue. The l'Cie team gets into one of the ships. With Sazh piloting, the airship raises and takes off. Even on their way, everyone, mostly Serah, Hope, Vanille and Sazh, can't help but worry for Lightning, Noel and I. From what Jihl says, and knowing her, the plot has to be sinister.

They just hope that they are not too late.


End file.
